Covenants

I find it significant that God always initiates his covenants in a different location than he fulfills them; that is, they always include a command to "Go". This means we are called to leave our current location–that place which is both dangerously comfortable for us and deceptively close to God–the place we were before God called us and the place where he met us.

Thus, Noah is called to steer to a new world; Abraham (or his father) is called to move out of Ur and Haran; Moses is called to leave from Horeb to lead from Egypt; the people of Israel are called to march from Sinai to a new country; etc. Similarly, Elisha is made to leave both his mission field and his homeland to walk 40 days into the wilderness to meet God on 'the mountain of God'. I mean, what's the mountain of God doing in the wilderness anyway? Shouldn't that term refer to Mount Zion?

In the New Testament, the disciples are called to leave their homes and wander the lands, following Jesus, and eventually to transverse the known world seeking his people. If some Christians today find their mission field to be in their hometown, they are still called to plan for a final move to better mansions above. It is as if God wants to emphasize that we can bring absolutely nothing to the bargaining table–nothing we have done, nothing we are, not even any aspect of our current condition, such as location.