Wilderness Wanderings
By Shauna Leis
“For forty years – one year for each of the forty days you explored the land – you will suffer for your sins and know what it is like to have me against you.’ I, the Lord, have spoken, and I will surely do these things to this whole wicked community, which has banded together against me. They will meet their end in this desert; here they will die.”
Numbers 14:34-35
“The Lord’s anger burned against Israel and he made them wander in the desert forty years, until the whole generation of those who had done evil in his sight was gone.”
Numbers 32:13
This past Sunday I was reminded of a song that I loved growing up in church. But it is one particular part of a verse that strikes a chord in my heart so very deep. It is from “Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing,” written by Robert Robinson in 1758. The verse goes like this…..
O to grace how great a debtor
Daily I’m constrained to be!
Let Thy goodness, like a fetter,
Bind my wandering heart to Thee.
Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it,
Prone to leave the God I love;
Here’s my heart, O take and seal it,
Seal it for Thy courts above.
Pay special attention to the part of the verse that I underlined as I think it is significant to the devotion for today. Our human hearts are so very prone to wandering away from the God we love. Notice that it does not say that we stop loving God; we just tend to wander away from Him.
Many, many years ago, my father taught a sermon on the “Wilderness Wanderings” of the Israelites. It was a great sermon and touched me even then as my heart is very prone to wandering. But, one of the most memorable parts of the sermon was that he just could not say the title of the sermon. He tried every which way but loose to get it out, but it always came out as the “Wonderness Wilderings.” To this day we still laugh about it!
So, why does this story of the Israelites touch us so much? I think it has to do with the fact that, as humans, our hearts are incredibly fickle. Jeremiah 17:9 says, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and beyond cure. Who can understand it?” When the Israelites were leaving Egypt, they witnessed so many miracles and wonders from God, it is just amazing to us they had the ability to continue putting one foot in front of the other. But, just like us, they saw those miracles and signs and were changed for an instant, but fell back into their old routines when troubles came.
God had Moses to send 12 men into the land of Canaan – the Promised Land, flowing with milk and honey according to the Scriptures. The 12 men all came back reporting that the land was all that God had promised them that it would be. However, 10 of the 12 said that the Israelites just could not take over this land since giants ruled it. Two of the men, Joshua and Caleb, believed God and said that with God anything was possible, including defeating the people inhabitating this land. The Israelites believed the other 10 men and shrank in fear because their hearts were not turned toward God. For this reason, God punished all of the Israelites and told them they had to wander around in the wilderness for another 40 years before they would be allowed to enter into the Promised Land. Only Joshua and Caleb would be allowed to enter since they had believed God can do great things.
In geometry, we learned that the shortest distance between two points is a straight line. God has a straight line in mind for our lives and a distinct journey that He desires that we follow. However, we let our hearts believe so many other things that we are prone to wander off of the line on a tangent. And then, we end up like the Israelites wandering around in the desert for 40 years when we could have been living in the Promised Land. Precious One, I do not know about you, but from now on, I want to go in a straight line to God!
Pray with me: Dear God, Oh how we long to be going on a straight line to Your desired destination for us. We pray that You will help us keep our hearts turned to You at all times. We want to guard our hearts for we know that they are prone to wandering and leaving the God that we love. No longer do we want to wander! Our hearts’ desire is to stay rooted in You and Your Word. We love You so very much and pray all of this in the precious name of Your Son, Jesus Christ! Amen!