If you had the choice to wander the desert for forty years or to live in the promise land flowing with milk and honey (all things good). The probability of choosing to wander the desert is feeble.
Some of us are wandering the desert now. Lost. Miserable. Heartbroken. Lonely. Forgotten. Naturally we didn’t choose it, but sometimes we miss the route to the promise land. How do we miss the route?
When Moses in the book of Numbers, delivered the Israelite’s from slavery, out of Egypt, God told them that He would lead them to the promise land. He could have taken them using a faster route, but God knew that His people would get distracted by the war and become terrified and run back to Egypt. So He leads them through the wilderness – the longer and trickier way. The former prisoners to slavery grew annoyed following Moses in the wilderness. They were even willing to return to shackles and bondage. God made them comfortable, but they were never grateful. They were always moaning and grumbling for more. Soon as the Israelite’s could see the promised land, they sent in spies. The spies came back saying that the people who already lived in the promise land were big, strong and intimidating. The Israelite’s were now afraid to move into the land and doubted God and His promises. This is when God became angry, he told them they will not see the promise land and instructed Moses to lead them back into the wilderness.
Like the Israelite’s, sometimes God may take us down the longer route to protect us. To lead us to our promise land without us being distracted, scared and unprepared. We however, become restless within the process. Most disturbingly, we wallow in ungratefulness. Then we fail to trust God, we doubt His promises and instead of reaching the promise land, we find ourselves incapable and unworthy of entering it.
We can learn from the past mistakes of the Israelite’s and avoid walking in the wilderness for 40 years. We have to learn to trust God with all our heart, soul and mind, and to let go of complaining and grumbling. (Philippians 2:14) Asking Jesus to uproot ungratefulness by filling our hearts with contentment. God is good, and He will never ever deny you access to the promise land if you trust Him and allow Him to work on you, creating within you the fruits of the spirits.
