“And Abraham journeyed from there to the South, and dwelt between Kadesh and Shur, and stayed in Gerar. Now Abraham said of Sarah his wife, “She is my sister.” And Abimelech king of Gerar sent and took Sarah.”
Genesis 20:1-2
Kadesh being an area in the Southern most regions of the land of Promise, and Shur being an area within the borders of Egypt we see a striking picture of compromise and backsliding. Abraham had made this mistake before when in this area, now he has reverted once again to the South and finds himself back to his old habits which end up getting him into the same trouble. The same is true for us; we’re all prone to slip a bit in our walk with the Lord. The symptoms are common, we become too busy to have regular time in the Word, maybe we stop going to church here and there, or perhaps we become too familiar with the Lord and put our faith on cruise control. And here is where the problem begins, because without the Word we have no map and when we put things on auto-pilot no one is navigating, then the direction of life heads south pretty quick. We start returning to old sinful habits God had freed us of, and we begin to get compromised not totally dwelling in Kadesh (the land of promise) but then again we aren’t fully running into Sin and the Flesh (Egypt). We’re just kind of dabbling in between like Abraham.
“Don’t you think your speculating a bit on this scripture Dan?” You might say.
Let’s take a look at the meaning of these words – Kadesh and Shur.
“Kadesh” when translated means “Holy”, and “Shur” literally means “wall”.
“For you are the temple of the living God…therefore having these promises beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.”
2 Corinthians 6:16-7:1
When we as the Temple of God’s Holy Spirit go back to the old fleshy sinful ways we begin to move from the Holy promised land of God to the Fleshy Southern regions of Sin in Shur, “hitting the wall” spiritually. We stop growing, we stop hearing from God, and we get disconnected from the Holy Spirit. Being the Beloved children of God that’s not the place He wants us to hang out.
When I was growing up in New York there were certain parts of the city that everyone knew wasn’t a safe place to be. My parents would never have let me hang out in those places.
Why?
Because they knew what happened in those areas. Those places were the locations where drugs were being abused, people were being raped and killed, and crimes were regularly being committed. It wasn’t that my parents were looking to take all the fun out of life; it was that they cared enough for my life that they separated me from those places. So too, your heavenly Father desires to see you separate from the fleshy locations and dwell in Holiness. These spots aren’t necessarily places on a map, but places in our thoughts and desires. He’s not looking to steal joy or kill fun, but to give you an abundantly wonderful life.
“The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.”
John 10:10
