Numbers 14:30-33 Not one
of you will enter the land I swore with uplifted hand to make your home, except
Caleb son of Jephunneh and Joshua son of Nun. But
you--your bodies will fall in this desert. Your children will be shepherds here
for forty years, suffering for your unfaithfulness, until the last of your
bodies lies in the desert.*
I wonder how long we spend
waiting in a lifetime. We wait in line at the grocery store and bank. I just
sent the children out to wait for their school bus. When we were at
Disney in January, we spent hours waiting in lines to get on rides.
We wait for people. We
plant seeds and we wait for them to grow. We order products and wait for them
to arrive. In college I read "Waiting for Godot."
(I’m still waiting for the meaning
of that one.)
My children don’t wait very well. "When is supper?"
"When we will get there?" We didn’t tell
them about our trip to
Our cats
don’t wait very well. We shut them downstairs at
night because they meow outside our bedroom door at 4 or 5 AM waiting to be
fed.
I don’t wait very well either. While most people would perceive me
to be a patient person, there are times I have to resist the urge to scream
"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrghh" in frustration.
As I read our passage, I am
struck by the thought that Joshua and Caleb had to wait 40 years for their
chance to go into the promised land. I don’t know how old all of you are, but I recently turned
38. Joshua had to wait longer than I have been alive to reach the promised land.
I suppose it could have
been worse. The others of their generation would die in the wilderness.
However, 40 years is still a long time to wait for a promise. It puts waiting
for the coffee pot in the morning into perspective, doesn’t
it?
We get spoiled when we
realize some of our hopes and dreams quickly. We expect that everything will
happen as easily. I’ve heard Christians say things like,
"It must not be God’s will because we’re encountering so much resistance."
Many of our goals and
dreams, however, take patience, persistence, and perseverance to realize. In
the meantime, we may wonder if they will ever be fulfilled. We will feel
frustrated or discouraged. Some people give up.
We must not give up. Joshua
and Caleb are examples to us of patience over a very long period of time. They
never gave up. I'm sure they faced the same temptations to give up as we do,
but they didn't and they led the people into the land. What a glorious day it
must have been when they finally went into the land. If we are patient and
faithful, we will experience the same feelings as God takes us into His
promises for us.
Hope this helps. Be OnFire
ON FIRE is a weekly
letter of encouragement by
*All scripture
references from the New International Version, copyright 1973, 1978 by the
International Bible Society.