The LORD our God said to us at Horeb, “You have stayed long enough at this mountain. Break camp and advance into the hill country of the Amorites; go to all the neighbouring peoples in the Arabah, in the mountains, in the western foothills, in the Negev and along the coast, to the land of the Canaanites and to Lebanon, as far as the great river, the Euphrates.” — Deuteronomy 1:6–7

The Torah portion for this week is Devarim which means “words,” from Deuteronomy 1:1–3:22, and the Haftorah is from Isaiah 1:1­-27.

Around 520 BCE Zerubbabel was charged with a momentous task. He was a Jewish leader who was appointed by the Persian government to return to the land of Israel and rebuild it as a Jewish country. While this was a joyous event that signalled the conclusion of the children of Israel’s 70-year exile, it also came with many challenges. The locals in Israel at the time, who had been placed there by the Babylonians when they conquered Israel, were not so excited about the prospect of the Jewish people coming home. They made all sorts of problems for the returning Jews. They caused all kinds of grief. At one point, it looked as though Zerubbabel might fail at his task.

How did Zerubbabel respond? With these triumphant words: “What are you, mighty mountain? Before Zerubbabel you will become level ground” (Zechariah 4:7).What is the “mighty mountain” to which Zerubbabel was referring? He was speaking to all the people, problems, and obstacles that stood in his way from fulfilling his destiny. Mountains are large and tough to climb. They are the symbol of obstacles in our paths. Zerubbabel looked at his challenges and said, in essence, “I will overcome you. You will not keep me from my goals. To me, you will be a flat plain!”

This “can do” attitude has its roots in this week’s Torah reading. We read, “The LORD our God said to us at Horeb, ‘You have stayed long enough at this mountain. Break camp and advance into the hill country . . .’” Consider how the Sages interpret this verse: God taught us at Horeb (Mount Sinai) never to look too long at a mountain; we should not dwell on our challenges. We need to advance and move forward. That mountain is just a hill and we can easily overcome it.

Friends, God never gives us a problem that we can’t handle. He never leads us to a mountain that we cannot overcome. The way to get over those obstacles in life is simply to advance. Put one foot in front of the other. When we look up at a mountain, it seems so steep, so hard to climb up. But the reality is that from one step to the next, it is usually pretty level. The way to climb a mountain is gradually, one step at a time, until suddenly, we have reached the summit.

Whatever mountains are standing in our way today, we need to confront them like Zerubbabel did. They will become level ground. We will walk over them. We will overcome them. We will be successful in fulfilling our God-given destiny.