The BOOK – Wilderness Wanderings

From the Mount Sinai, Israelites journeyed to Kadesh which is the southern border of the Promised Land Canaan. Since the people did not believe in God, the Promised Land which they could have gone in 2 years took 40 years. Sometimes this happens to the current children of God. We will be told to do a certain things and we will not and will lose years and finally will end up in doing the same thing. 

One problem which occurred to them were that they got discouraging words from the spies who told them that since giants are there it is impossible to overcome these giants. They did not listen to Joshua and Caleb who were confident that God will give victory to them. Instead they were telling to choose a leader and go back to Egypt (Numbers 14:4). I have seen people who are Christians, are forced to listen and do things which are against the will of God because of doubt in faith. When you go and convince them that it is not the way God wants, they may come against you, same way Israel went against Moses and Joshua.

When the people of Israel tried to take things in their own hand instead of seeing how powerful their God was, God decided that anyone who is over 20 years will not enter the land of Canaan, except Joshua and Caleb. Eleven days from the land of Promise! But they turn back. They could have made 11 days of progress, but they chose 40 years of wanderings. Miracle might be there in front of you. But because of your unfaithfulness, it is getting dragged away. God opens doors that no human can close and he closes doors that no human can open. God took Israel from Egypt to bring them to the promise land, might in in some weeks. But because of their fear disqualified them to take over the land promised. There is a saying that if you have never faced any difficulties or challenges in life, you have not done any good thing. When you decide to do well, which is against the worldly life, difficulties will come. You need to come out from your comfort zone and walk along with God who called you without any doubt. Often we fear what others say and this fear keeps us from enjoying all God wants to give us. Like the 10, we can be pessimists, or like the 2, we can be optimists. Like the 10 we can put difficulties between us and God and say we are not able, or like the 2, we can put God between the difficulties and ourselves and say we are able.

We also find people questioning Aaron’s priest hood. Moses gathers 12 staffs, one from the leader of each tribe, and placed them overnight in the tent of meeting. God put life into Aaron’s alone, causing it to sprout and bud. All the religious authors in the world died, even Christ died – but only Christ was raised from the dead and exalted to be our High Priest. “Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has ascended into heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess”

We find even though Moses disobeyed God by striking the rock, God was faithful and kept his promise. But since Moses smote the rock instead of speaking, he was not permitted to enter the Promised Land. 

Jesus Christ is the rock and was to be smitten once for our sins. 1 Corinthians 10:3, 4 – “They all ate the same spiritual food and drank the same spiritual drink; for they drank from the spiritual rock that accompanied them, and that rock was Christ”. Christ need not be smitten again. 

I pray that you repent your sins, believe and confess Christ as your saviour and be faithful to him and him alone.