Our 40-year Journeys

Don’t think that wandering in the desert for 40 years was something only

done in the past.  When the Israelites were too afraid to go into the

Promised Land, God sent them on a journey for 40 years to wander in the

desert.  The Israelites had been afraid because they believed that the

tribes already inhabiting their land were too strong for them.  They were

afraid that they would be unable to defeat them.  They chose not to

believe in the promise that God had given them, that He would be with them

and protect them.  They did not understand what the phrase “If God is for

us, who can be against us?” meant.  So God allowed them to wander in the

desert for 40 years.

God made them wander in the desert for 40 years, fighting any tribe or

city that stood in their way, and defeating them.  Why did God do this?

He did this as a lesson to the Israelites, to prove fully to them that He

is the Lord and that whatever He promises, He will do.  He did this to

show them that nothing is impossible with God, and to have them bear

witness to His awesome glory.  At the end of the 40 years, they were ready

to reclaim their land.

Now the fact is, God sends us on “40 year” journeys even now.  It’s easy

to read that same story and think in your mind, “Oh, well I would never

have done that.  I would’ve have trusted in God and took the Promised Land

from the start.  What were they thinking?”  But we must keep in mind that

every story in the Bible is there for a reason.  They are reflections of

humanity, things that still remain part of humanity even though time

passes.  Even now, we humans fall for the very same traps that the people

in the Bible fell for.  So yes, we are guilty of the same thing the

Israelites did even now.

We all have moments when we let fear keep us from trusting God.  Sometimes

God may tell us to do something, and it might sound ridiculous in our

worldly and logical minds, and so we over-think and rationalize our way

out of it, refusing to trust that if God gives a command, then you’d

better believe He’ll provide the means to carry it out and the support you

need for it.  We’ll let the fear of what might possibly happen if we fail

blind us from the reality of the fact that we will actually NOT fail,

because if God is for us, who can be against us?  Sometimes God may bless

us with a promise, a promise of a wonderful gift or a glorious plan or

something else, and it will just seem too impossible to accept, or maybe

the obstacles of life that stand in the way of our obtaining the promise

just seem far too daunting.  And so we let fear prevent us from receiving

what God said is rightfully ours.  We may even become content with what we

already have and come to believe in the idea that life is what we see in

front of us, that impossible things do not really happen.  Ultimately we

will choose to disregard what is written in Deuteronomy 28, that we shall

be blessed when we come in and when we go out, blessed in the city and the

country, blessings shall come upon us and overtake us if we choose to obey

the voice of the Lord.

So for those who walk with the Lord, if they let these fears prevent them

from being all that they are called to be, the Lord will train His

children.  He will put them through “40 year” journeys, journeys that

train them and make them stronger, journeys that have them bear witness to

God’s glory, so that they know and understand that God will never leave

them or forsake them, so they know that when God tells them He will do

something He will surely do it, so they know that when God gives them a

command He is behind them 150%.  God is the same yesterday and today and

forever.  So fear not, for He is with you.