GOD. YOUTH. TRUTH.

I love to drive. A 14 hour drive is a sheer joy and delight for me to undertake, and I look forward to taking cross country trips. There is something soothing about driving on the open road, and mentally it is somewhat rewarding to know that there is a destination waiting at the end of the trip. For me though, the trip is half the fun. However, I despise daily commutes that last longer than 30 minutes. I once had a job as a dishwasher that required a 30 minutes drive to the next town over. It came close to driving me absolutely crazy. The mind numbing repetition of the drive made each journey worse than the last. Each day, I knew I had to take that drive back and forth, and I had to do it to keep my job. I hated it.

I couldn’t imagine how the children of Israel felt in their commute to and from the land God had promised to Abraham. Every time they messed up, it was like God tacked on another 40 years of wandering in the wilderness. Could you imagine commuting for 40 years, and never getting anywhere? Most of the commuted so long that they died! I couldn’t do it. I would have been relentlessly frustrated if I was Moses, but he had some perspective on the whole situation.

The difference between Moses and the rest of the children of Israel was that Moses was sure of the final destination. For Moses, the wilderness wanderings were nothing more than a road trip to a great place. For the rest of Israel, it was torturous drudging on because they forgot where they were supposed to be heading. They became infatuated with false gods, were picky about their food sources, and were completely sure that they were all doomed to the desert forever. Both knew where they were headed, both became frustrated at times, and both were anxious for the journey to be over, but Moses was different in the fact that he kept daily contact with God that reminded him of that final destination. The rest of Israel had lost touch with that, and as a result continuously fell away from God.

We have to ask ourselves if we are on a commute here and there in life or if we are on a journey to be in the Promised Land. If we take time daily to be with God, we can be confident that we are headed toward the Promised Land and enjoy our journey.