Detours

The route Moses took between Egypt and Israel (land of Canaan/the Promisee Land) should probably about be between 800 and 1,000 kilometers. If the average person walks 5 km per hour – even calculating that groups of people like to chat and walk slowly at a pace of 4 km or even 3 km per hour –  then the Israelites should have taken about 40 days to get from slavery to freedom (assuming that they traveled 12 to 16 hours daily). However, from Biblical record, we know that it took the Israelites 40 years to get from slavery to freedom. What I’m trying to say is that they could have made this trip 300 times over, had they not “wandered in the desert.” Let’s look at what happened at the onset of their journey from Numbers 21. From Mount Hor they set out by the way to the Red Sea, to go around the land of Edom. And the people became impatient on the way. And the people spoke against God and against Moses, “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and we loathe this worthless food.” – Numbers 21:4-5 THEY BECAME IMPATIENT! More than the impatience, they grew tired of food they didn’t have to work for. I mean, there was food literally falling from heaven, but the ungratefuls called it “worthless!” But why are we focused on those things? It’s simple: in life, we’re often forced to “go around the long way;” and, when we have to go around, we grow impatient, forgetting to reflect on the blessings included in this detour. We may not have imagined this detour in our travel plans for our life journey, but it’s become the trip we’re on now; therefore, it would behoove us to take joy in and enjoy the blessings that are part and parcel of this detour. We are receiving God’s grace in our lives, despite the fact that this detour (on the route from “now” and “our dreams”) seems to be forced upon us. And this detour, this grace, should never be taken for granted. At this juncture, the Israelites – the ones that couldn’t enjoy the blessed detour God was providing – started to die of snake bites. Yet, even then, God provided redemption with a snake set on a pole. While we may not enjoy our detour, we should never forget that God is still with us. Moreover, God gives us salvation even when we become impatient with this seemingly wayward journey, so that we can live. It’s time to enjoy the detour. We may have to travel a bit more to reach our destination, but that’s okay because God will provide.