Even in the Wilderness

While waiting for a promised community “place” in Vocal to properly put a “devotional,” I decided to share my study with you. Have you ever felt like God has waited until the eleventh hour to answer a prayer? Do you feel “stuck” in a place or situation and don’t know what to do? If you have, maybe this might shed some light.

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Deuteronomy Chapter 1:1-8 (The Command to Leave Horeb)

1 These are the words Moses spoke to all Israel in the wilderness… 2 It takes eleven days to go from Horeb to Kadesh Barnea…

3 In the fortieth year, on the first day of the eleventh month, Moses proclaimed to the Israelites all that the LORD had commanded him concerning them. 4 …

5 …Moses began to expound this law, saying:

6 The LORD our God said to us at Horeb, “You have stayed long enough at this mountain.

7 Break camp and advance…

8 See, I have given you this land. Go in and take possession of the land the LORD swore he would give to your fathers—to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob—and to their descendants after them.”

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 Horeb: Hebrew word meaning to "dry up” or waste.

 Kadesh Barnea: from the Hebrew root word, “holy.”

 Fortieth Year: a generation, a transition for a new beginning, a time of testing or preparation.

 First Day: mentioned in Creation and the resurrection of Christ and considered to be from the evening until the morning or from darkness until light.

 Eleventh Month: Known as the Hebrew, “Shevat,” meaning to “strike” or “beat.” Symbolizes a new chapter or a beginning.

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First, let me explain my purpose for this sharing. I realized that the only way for me to retain a full understanding of what I had gleaned, is for me to write it down. So, after I had done that, I thought this would be something I would want to leave behind for my children and grandchildren.

I, by no means, am a Biblical scholar. As I researched (mostly from google searches, but also from a host of books from said scholars,) many questions arose.

Questions like, “Why did God see fit to put names, times, locations into His book of history-filled stories and messages?” And “What does this mean? “Is there significance here?” “Is there a message in it for me, perhaps?”

I will need to apologize because I have left out many (perhaps symbolic) geographic locations along with their Hebrew meaning to shorten this study of mine. (Thus, the ellipses from Scripture…)

My message from this study is as follows:

1) There is a “purposed” time in our life. God has prepared us for such. Even though we might think sometimes that God is too late in answer to our prayers, He still knows best. Just like these “wanderers of the desert,” He knows our heart and dreams, but the building of our character is what is most important to Him and to our generations to come. Our promised land is in His time. (When we are ready)

2) It is in the “wait” that God works in us, taking our dried up and wasted situations and making them “holy” (more in and of His character.) He makes us useful for His good purposes and to fulfill our destiny.

3) When the perfect time comes, God tells us to “break camp” and advance. Sometimes we must move on from a place or situation we are in to get to “the place” we need to be...for God to give us all He has planned for us.

4) It’s also important to remember that this earth was never meant to be our “home.” Heaven is our true (and final) destination, and we should never lose sight of that.

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To ponder:

*Do you feel like the land of Horeb is your abode? Are just wandering around in your day-to day life, going in circles or in unhealthy cycles?

*Are you hearing the “sound of Shevat” and feeling the urge to go forward?

*How do you see God working in your life presently?