They traveled from Mount Hor along the route to the Red Sea, to go around Edom. But the people grew impatient on the way; 5 they spoke against God and against Moses, and said, “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? There is no bread! There is no water! And we detest this miserable food!” – Numbers 21:4-5 (NIV)
It’s so easy to read through Numbers and not understand why the Israelites were such complainers. I’ve read it before and thought, why are you complaining? Don’t you know in 3 or 4 pages later in the Bible you get to enter the promised land? Seriously…why are you complaining.
And then it hit me. They didn’t know. They didn’t know that in three pages they were going into the promised land. All they knew was they weren’t where they wanted to be yet. And they had no idea how long it was going to take to get there.
They experienced lots of set backs. And they obviously felt discouraged and became impatient.
And honestly, I do too. I often wonder how long is it going to be God? How long do I have to remain patient? How long until I see results in my own life?
So what can we learn from Israel? I think the lesson from this passage is that it’s really all about trust. We have to trust God. We have to trust that He is going to bring us to where we want to be. But that takes faith. Because a lot of the time we don’t see when or how it’s going to happen.
Many times we have to be patient when we don’t see the promises coming to pass yet in our lives. We have to be patient in the midst of situations that aren’t exactly going the way we would choose. That takes faith and character. We have to keep our eyes on Jesus and see Him and the promises in the Word as more real that what we see going on around us.
Ask yourself today, am I being patient? Have I allowed myself to become discouraged with the setbacks that I’ve faced? And if so, ask God’s help. Ask Him to help you stay encouraged.
Today’s Truth: We have to see Jesus as more real than what is going on around us.
