Where Does the Bible Say We Will Go Into the Wilderness Again
No one likes a detour or delay in a journeying. Whenever we run into a road under construction or traffic that halts our trek by one-half an hr, nosotros may experience tempted to throw upwards our easily and say, "Why at present? Why did this have to happen to me?'
Enter the Israelites, who had endured hundreds of years of slavery in Arab republic of egypt. When God freed them, through his servant Moses and via x plagues (Exodus vii-eleven) and a splitting body of water (Exodus 14), they must have thought that they'd arrive in the land of their dreams, the Promised Land, in no time.
Merely sure plenty, they striking snags along the way. The journey takes too long, and they turn to other idols and gods to speed up the process (Exodus 32).
The proverbial straw breaks the camel's back when they reach the Promised Land and ship spies to lookout the area.
When the spies realize that the fortified city and its people within are intimidating. All but Caleb and Joshua, two of the spies, try to dissuade the Israelites from going into the new land (Numbers 32).
Because of their obstinance and disobedience and forgetfulness of God'due south promises, God delays their entry into the Promised Land by 40 years. Aside from Caleb and Joshua, anyone over a certain age would non meet the Promised Land, since their generation did not practice a strong religion in God's provision.
Although the xl years in the desert may serve every bit a cautionary tale of sorts, can we learn anything from the Israelites as they wandered for iv decades?
Indeed. We'll dive into some of the many lessons from the 40 years in the desert.
God Provides in Our Darkest Moments
In the desert, the Israelites had run low on provisions (Numbers eleven:5). Information technology gets to the point where the Israelites pino after the "good ole days" of their slavery in Egypt, where they didn't have to worry about starvation.
They get and so hungry that they think hundreds of years doing hard slave labor in Egypt sounds like paradise.
God, seeing their need for food, provides them with a substance known as manna. A heavenly bread of sorts that means "what is it?" He likewise gives them protein via quail and provides these bread and birds from heaven daily until they enter the Promised Land.
God understood that the desert was a temporary limbo for the Israelites. They wouldn't stay there forever but would enter the Promised Land decades afterwards. Nevertheless, he meets their needs, notwithstanding.
From this, we can larn that God meets us in limbo. We might be waiting on a task or living from paycheck to paycheck, merely God provides for united states of america in the desert and in the Promised Land.
He doesn't leave or forsake us in our greatest hour of need.
God's Plan Never Seems to Align with Ours
Nor does his timeline.
The Israelites may have thought that everything would be smooth sailing since they left their former lives from Egypt. No longer would they have to operate under cruel taskmasters, and they had a bright future ahead.
Simply they expected it all to happen and then fast. So easily. They didn't realize that sometimes getting to the Promised State takes time. That God may accept wanted them to learn some lessons forth the manner most trusting him, and that he fights for them when they are surrounded by a great number of enemies on their fashion to the Promised Land (Exodus 17).
Nosotros can learn that God'southward timeline and plan oft veer far away from how we look a state of affairs to play out or an outcome to autumn in our favor. Even so, God'due south plans always are all-time, and we take to trust in him. Especially when we need to rely on his provisions, like the Israelites in the desert.
God Doesn't Continue Us in the Desert Forever
Xl years sounds like a long fourth dimension. To the Israelites who were in their teens, they didn't reach the Promised Land until they had turned 50 or sixty years quondam.
Only even though God'southward timeline may not align with ours, he doesn't continue us in the desert forever. Whether the "desert" we're currently enduring is a trial or if nosotros think of the "desert" every bit this globe (a limbo until nosotros attain the Promised State of paradise) God doesn't hold u.s.a. in limbo forever.
Nosotros volition achieve the Promised State since promised is in the title. God doesn't pause covenants, and he won't go on the states suspended in the desert for eternity. Whether our trial lasts four years or 40, we will make it to the Promised Land.
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Source: https://www.christianity.com/wiki/bible/what-can-we-learn-from-the-israelites-wandering-the-desert-for-40-years.html
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