You Are A Pilgrim

As I have said before, there seem to be, generally speaking, two kinds of people that travel. You have nesters, who put their roots down deep and don’t travel very often. They go on a three-day trip and need a train boxcar to get everything there. On the other side, you have pilgrims, who can pack a week’s worth of supplies in a Walmart plastic bag. As someone who spends a lot of time in my fifth-wheel travel trailer, I know there is freedom that comes from simplicity in such living. You get up in the morning and think, “What will I wear?” You answer yourself, “I guess I’ll wear the shirt I have left.” It simplifies life.

My fifth wheel is a home away from home. If you belong to the Lord Jesus, your home is not your home; it is your home away from home. This world is not your home. You are just passing through. In Genesis 46-47 we learn about the pilgrimage of Jacob and his family in the land of Egypt. In Genesis 47:4 Jacob’s sons describe themselves as just traveling through Egypt, not staying long. Though they ended up being there for hundreds of years, it wasn’t their ultimate home. Jacob described his life as a pilgrimage. He didn’t belong in Egypt long term; he was just a pilgrim, a traveler.

Why? Genesis 46:1-3 gives us some context. It says, “And Israel [Jacob] took his journey with all that he had, and came to Beersheba, and offered sacrifices unto the God of his father Isaac. And God spake unto Israel…and said, I am God, the God of thy father: fear not to go down into Egypt; for I will there make of thee a great nation.” He then says He would go with them and would bring them out of Egypt again.

Genesis 47:27 says, “And Israel [Jacob and his sons, the emerging nation] dwelt in the land of Egypt, in the country of Goshen; and they had possessions therein, and grew, and multiplied exceedingly.” That was God’s purpose. So, Jacob was a pilgrim, and if you belong to the Lord Jesus, you are a pilgrim. God’s commentary on these verses is in Hebrews 11 where it says, “These all died in faith, not having received the promises…and were persuaded of them…and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.” If they had been talking about the land they had come from, they could have gone right back, but they weren’t talking about that. “They desire a better country, that is, an heavenly: wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God.”

In I Peter, Peter calls believers “strangers.” In I Peter 2:11 he calls them “strangers and pilgrims.” If you belong to the Lord Jesus, you are a stranger. It just means you are on a sojourn; this world is not your home. You are a pilgrim, as was Israel.

How then should you live? First, you are a pilgrim; don’t compare. At Christmas dinner you might be talking to family around the table and say,”“How was your trip?” They reply, “”t was great until we got to Nashville where the traffic was horrendous.” Someone else says, “Yeah, we came up through Cookeville and the traffic wasn’t too bad.” They are comparing their journeys. That is understandable, but it can be a danger because whatever your pilgrimage may look like, it will be different from the pilgrimage of someone else.

When Pharoah asked Jacob how old he was, he described his life as a pilgrimage and said, “Few and evil have the days of the years of my life been.” He said that because he was comparing the length of his life to that of his fathers who had lived longer, but he lived longer than Joseph. Did he have trouble in life? Yes. Did Joseph have trouble in life? Yes, yet Joseph basically said, “God has made me to prosper in the land of my captivity.”

Joseph realized God had a reason for where He had him. In Jacob’s case, it was to incubate Jacob’s family into a nation, the nation of Israel. Genesis 46:3, “I will there make of thee a great nation.” He repeats that in Genesis 47:27. God has a reason for the pilgrimage you are on specifically, so don’t compare your life to that of someone else.

Second, you are a pilgrim; don’t settle. God has given us richly all things to enjoy, but don’t settle here because you don’t belong here. Genesis 47:11 says, “And Joseph placed his father and his brethren, and gave them a possession in the land of Egypt, in the best of the land.” They settled down short-term, but they sought a better country. There is the gravity of possessions. My attic has more stuff in it now than it has ever had before and not far from where I live there is a business that houses the stuff of people. Why? It is because people don’t have enough space to store their stuff. It is not wrong to have possessions, but don’t settle. Don’t get so comfortable that you forget you are a pilgrim.

The sons of Jacob were shepherds and that was an abomination to the Egyptians. In Genesis 43:32, before Joseph had revealed himself to his brothers, they had a meal at Joseph’s house. The Egyptians ate separately from Joseph’s brother because to do otherwise was an abomination to the Egyptians. Joseph’s family didn’t belong to Egypt. They belonged in Egypt as God had a purpose to grow them into a great nation, but they did not belong to Egypt.

Third, you are a pilgrim, but don’t waste your wait. Maybe you are in a place right now and think, “This is where I belong” and you are not talking about heaven as opposed to earth, but here as opposed to some other state, place, profession, or stage of life. That may be true, but when Israel was in captivity in Babylon, God said to the prophet, “Pray for the land where you are and have families and plant.” This was where God had them for that time. You don’t settle in the sense that you belong to this earth, but you realize you are a pilgrim and are at a point of waiting. If you are following God, no time of waiting is a waste. Don’t waste your wait.

This past weekend I went to a trail called the Fiery Gizzard to watch my son run a marathon. There was a gentleman there from a particular denomination who I think was a believer. He was very distinct and his two daughters ran the marathon with head coverings, nearly ankle-length dresses, and sandals. They did really well. I overheard some people asking this man about his faith and convictions. They knew he was different and were asking him about it. They were polite, but there was levity in their questions. He took it in stride and wasn’t offended or up tight. He just told them who and what he was. He related very well to other people even when they were in stark contrast to him, covered in tattoos with nose rings. I could tell by talking to him that he was intelligent, accomplished, and comfortable in his own skin. He was different, and he was fine with that.

I thought, “Many believers who look nothing like this gentleman would have a complex and be offended if anyone asked them about what made them different.” In contrast, this man and his family know who they are and are fine with it. The point is don’t settle; don’t feel you have to fit in with where you are. You are not like the Egyptians. You are like Israel. You are different and that is okay. We are to be content, but not complacent. We are pilgrims. Don’t compare your pilgrimage to someone else’s and don’t settle in the land where God is incubating you. God has a purpose and a reason. We are to run our race faithfully, realizing we are pilgrims, not here to stay.