In the first chapter of Deuteronomy, we read that just as the Israelites were about to enter the promised land, they stopped trusting God, after they had experienced God carrying them in His arms as a father carries his child. The outcome of their ‘walking away from God in their heart’ is disobedience. They do everything God tells them not to do and do not do anything God tells them to do. Because of their lack of faith that prompts disobedience, God does not take them into the promised land. Instead, God asks them to head back into the wilderness they had just left behind and takes them on a forty-year journey.
At first glance, this forty-year journey seems like an unnecessary road to nowhere – but it is not! In these forty-year journey the Israelites start learning to trust God in all circumstances and because they trust God, in Deuteronomy chapter two we see that they obey God in everything God tells them to do. God remains true to who He is, and God continues to take care of them throughout these forty years. The Israelites lack nothing though they are wandering about in a desert!
What the Israelites experienced is true in the life of every Christ follower. It is only when we trust God will we obey what God tells us in His word. When we trust God and obey Him, just like the Israelites, we too will lack nothing, whether we are experiencing hardships and tragedy or having plenty.
