It looks like a toddler got a crayon and scribbled on a map of the Middle East. That’s how I would describe the map of the wilderness wanderings of the children of Israel. Around and around and around in circles they went for years. Didn’t they have a GPS? Couldn’t they stop and ask directions? No, they wandered aimlessly because God Himself led them in circles because of their choice and its consequences at Kadesh.
It had now been thirty eight long years since that fateful day when the entire nation with the notable exceptions of Moses, Aaron, Caleb and Joshua refused to enter the land of promise (2: 14). Moses notes that [i]t is an eleven-day journey from Horeb to Kadesh-barnea by way of Mount Seir but alas it is [i]n the fortieth year that he is bracing the Israelites to enter the land of promise. What an irony! It should have taken Israel only eleven days to travel from Sinai’s rocky crags to the outer boundary of Canaan and begin their conquest but instead an entire generation was wasted going in circles.
It’s a parable folks! God prepares us for immediate and decisive victory when we are saved. Just as Israel needed a brief stop at Sinai for instructions we need basic biblical information to assist us in our new walk. But God wants us to begin implementing the principles we have learned immediately. Will we need to know more? Absolutely, but God is a master of OTJT (On The Job Training). What God does not want is a people who never believe Him at His Word and move out in faith.
Unfortunately, there are people reading this who have not traveled onward in your walk of faith for perhaps as much as forty years. You’re like the guy in the rocking chair. You’re expending energy but going nowhere! Sometimes we flatter ourselves by saying we have twenty years of experience at the Christian life. In reality, what many of us have is two years of experience ten times over! We are still spiritual infants or toddlers. We can roll over, crawl or walk awkwardly but we lack the will to move into the land of promise and take some territory for Jesus.
Our reluctance is for much the same reason as Israel’s. We are afraid of going to battle with the enemy. Well, there are some things worse than war and they all come with surrender! So, whether you just got saved today or you were saved a lot of yesterdays ago, strap on a helmet, lock and load, and get on over to Canaan ASAP. Any journey in the wilderness is too long. Our journey is to be in the land dripping with milk and honey!