Reaching The Promised Land

The devil wants to keep us in the wilderness, but God will lead us on to the Promised Land.

It's hard to imagine that the people of Israel went around and around in the wilderness for 40 years. It's a journey that should have taken only a few days, but their stubbornness and unbelief kept them from entering the Promised Land. They had to keep going around that mountain for 40 years.

Aren't we that way, too, sometimes? I admit that I can be stubborn. (I know that's hard to believe.) It's our stubbornness that can keep us from going forward in our walk with God.

The Bible says we must deny ourselves and take up our cross daily and follow Jesus. It's a decision we must make every day. If we don't, we find ourselves slipping back into our old habits instead of moving toward our Promised Land.

We need to learn from our past mistakes (or sins) or we'll be destined to repeat them. We'll keep going around and around that mountain. The devil has a trap for each of us, and he wants us to keep falling into that same old trap so that we don't move forward in our Christian walk. A friend of mine calls it the "merry-go-round effect," where we seem to keep going around in circles.

For me, I know I have to be careful to make the right choices every day, or I'll end up falling back into my old habits and hang-ups. I'll have to make another lap around the mountain.  I've made quite a few trips around that mountain!

The good news is we don't have to stay in the wilderness. God made a way for us through Jesus. If we will deny ourselves and make the decision daily to follow Him, we will reach the Promised Land.

God will lead us, but we have to be willing to follow. The directions are found by reading His Word daily and by seeking Him with all our hearts. He WILL show us the way.

I don't want to be like the people of Israel, whose stubbornness kept them from entering in. I don't want to stay in the wilderness. I want to be open to listen to God's voice and obey His directions. The journey may be long, but if we won't give up in our walk with God, there's nothing that can stop us. We will reach our destination!