Numbers 33: 3 – 49 recounts the travels of the Hebrews across forty years. It can be somewhat tedious to read this lengthy list of unknown place names and that’s just the point. Reading the refrain, “They departed from ‘x’ and camped at ‘y’” magnifies the miserable meandering of these malcontents. They kept moving but never matured. They traveled but did not arrive. It’s pretty disappointing stuff but do you recall how it began?
On the day after the Passover the Israelites went out triumphantly (33: 3). The Hebrew says they went out “with a raised hand.” Everybody, it seems, starts well. Do you remember the rapturous first days of your Christian life? Maybe you felt like you were walking on air. No one was going to bring you down. The future was lit with the storied promises of God. Life was good and it was only getting better. You couldn’t get enough of Jesus and you couldn’t share Him often enough. There was a snap, crackle and pop to your life. How sweet those days were. Do you remember?
What’s it like today? I am not asking if the emotions remain the same because maturity means we don’t live on raw emotion. But I do ask if Jesus is still everything to you. Is He the beginning of your day and the end of your day? Are you more in love with Him now than when you first came to salvation? Do you hunger and thirst for His righteousness? How anxious are you to find opportunities to tell others about Him?
Sometimes it is as though the beginning of the Christian life is all downhill. Conversely, we often find much thereafter to be uphill and the grade is rather steep. That is one of the reasons that beginning is so much simpler than going on. Tragically, many believers drop out on the uphill stretches of life. They began so well but their carcasses can be found, like the Israelites, strewn across the wilderness.
No group ever began more gloriously than the Exodus generation and no group ever ended more ingloriously. How is it with you? Is your hand still raised toward heaven in triumphant victory?