The Place

You've probably heard the expression about being in the right place at the right time—it is possible to limit God when you are not in the right place. That sounds strange to some people because it is pretty common to be told as kids that God can do anything. Nevertheless, when God brought the Israelites into the land, he designated Mount Gerizim as the place of the blessings, and Mount Ebal as the place of the curses. Moses had given God's law to the people by this time, and they were given a choice: a blessing would come if they obey the call, the curse would fall for disobedience.

The Hebrew word for "The Place" is transliterated into English as either "maqowm" or "makom." It is a place, a locality, a spot. The word occurs over 400 times in scripture, creating dozens of examples where it was critical that someone be in the right place to hear or to receive from God. Sometimes it was a place of provision, sometimes a place of protection; always, it was the place where God would meet them.

A few examples:

Abraham Genesis 12:1 Now the LORD said to Abram, "Go forth from your country, And from your relatives And from your father's house, To the land which I will show you; Compared with Hebrews 11:8  By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going. He would not have received if he had stayed.

Elijah 1 Kings 17:2-4 The word of the LORD came to Elijah, saying, "Go away from here and turn eastward, and hide yourself by the brook Cherith, which is east of the Jordan. It shall be that you will drink of the brook, and I have commanded the ravens to provide for you there." He would not have been protected if he did not go.

Jacob Genesis 28:11, 12 He came to a certain place and spent the night there, because the sun had set; and he took one of the stones of the place and put it under his head, and lay down in that place. He had a dream, and behold, a ladder was set on the earth with its top reaching to heaven; and behold, the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. His revelation would not have occurred elsewhere.

Jesus' family Matthew 2:13, 14 Now when they had gone, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, “Get up! Take the Child and His mother and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you; for Herod is going to search for the Child to destroy Him. So Joseph got up and took the Child and His mother while it was still night, and left for Egypt. He remained there until the death of Herod. This was to fulfill what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet: “Out of Egypt I called My Son." We see the importance of immediate obedience.

Abraham had to be in place to receive his inheritance, Elijah would have either starved or been hunted down and murdered in another spot, Jacob dreamed of the inter-dimensional portal on location, and Jesus' family had to be in the right place, not only for safety, but to fulfill prophecy.

I am pretty well convinced that KatieLyn, our runaway bride, ran not only away from her wedding, but more tragically, away from her makom, away from the place where her life really could have made a difference, the place where she could have blossomed, the place where God planned for her to reach her full potential. A home with Joe would have been a place with a balance of freedom and support to reach personal fulfillment, to mature from daughterhood into becoming a wife.

Remember that KatieLyn is a 29 year-old woman who is living with her parents, younger sisters, and brother. It is not like her parents are invalids and need her there to nurse them or see to their affairs. In my view, the four-hour distance from her parents that she would have had in married life was also part of God's provision for her. Close enough that it was still drivable, she would not have to miss any truly important family occasions; yet it was a safe distance from being chronically burdened with her mother's controlling comments, meddling opinions and judgmental attitude.

I don't see KatieLyn freely thriving as long as she is living with her parents. The family dynamic, the codependency is too strong. There have been too many indications that her mom does not fully trust her to make the big decisions, and that is unlikely to change.

There is "The Place" to connect with God, a place to hear Him without distraction, a place of blessing, of comfort, of protection. For young children, the place is almost always the family. But as we mature spiritually, the Lord will lead us to a new place. He refreshes our soul as He leads us in paths of righteousness for His name’s sake. cf Psalm 23:3

For His name's sake… His name does not get its proper glory when we refuse to travel the path of righteousness to our Mount Gerizim, our place of blessing. We don't want to flee from the place the Lord would meet us, only to find ourselves outside of God's will on Mount Ebal.

All the characters in these examples, along with practically every other champion in the Bible, acted in faith to be in the right place at the right time. Each one had to trust the leading of the Spirit of God. If they had reacted in fear, they'd have missed God. Their acts of faith opened the door for God to meet the need.