Missing the Promised Land

One of my early 'adventures in prayer' after KatieLyn fled in the dark of the night centered on the story of the Israelites' failure to enter their promised land in the days of Moses. You can probably catch how that would be analogous to KatieLyn's plight just by reading this post's title. KatieLyn also missed entering her promised Beulah land of marriage.

Israelite history is long, involved, and detailed, but the beginning of the story spanning chapters 7-17 of Exodus is this: Moses had been God's instrument to call ten plagues upon Egypt until the Pharaoh agreed to let the Israelites leave. They had a visible manifestation of God's presence as a pillar of cloud to guide them by day, and at night they saw a pillar of fire to give them light. They experienced the parting of the Red Sea and crossed over on dry ground as Pharaoh's charioteers and troops came in pursuit and then drowned as the wall of water collapsed. In a previously desolate desert, the Israelites lived with supernatural provision of water, manna, and quail meat. There was also provision for hands-on military training during the Battle of the Amalekites. Soon, they would hear the rumbling of Mt. Sinai and see Moses' glowing face when he returned from meeting with the Lord there. (Ex. 34:29) [In the analogy, every point KatieLyn had prayed for in a husband had been answered.]

Skipping ahead to Numbers 13 and 14, it was time to enter the Promised Land. [In the analogy, it's the wedding date that's approaching.] Moses sent out spies, one from each tribe, to gather information about the land that the Lord was giving to them. Unfortunately, a 5/6 plurality reported that it was a land that devours its inhabitants. Despite the many signs and wonders in their personal experience, they still grumbled and could not trust the Lord, in fact, they were crying all night long! (See Numbers 14:1)
   Here's a list of what they cried about:
     ⦁    Would that we had died in the land of Egypt!
     ⦁    Would that we had died in this wilderness!
     ⦁    Why is the Lord bringing us into this land, to fall by the sword?
     ⦁    Our wives and our little ones will become a prey!
     ⦁    Would it not be better for us to go back to Egypt?
And they said to one another, “Let us choose a leader and go back to Egypt.”
Remember, the Lord was trying to give them a land of milk and honey at the time, one that they had been waiting to get back for over 430 years. [In the analogy, the Lord was trying to give KatieLyn the husband she had been waiting and praying for half of her life.]

The Israelites had crossed the line from being horribly disrespectful and gone over to full blown rebellion. They did not believe in His promise, even though they had earlier seen and experienced multiple proofs of blessings. They did not listen to the voice of the Lord or act upon what He had told them to do. Therefore, He swore to them that he would cast them down in the wilderness.

Although this was the story that the Holy Spirit was bringing to my attention during prayer, I wasn't reading the long version from the Pentateuch at this point. I went back and looked that up later. I originally slid into this comparison through Psalm 106:24-26. 

 Then they despised the pleasant land; They did not believe in His word,  But grumbled in their tents; They did not listen to the voice of the LORD.  Therefore He swore to them that He would cast them down in the wilderness. 

These three verses succinctly summarize the gist of the problem:  They did not believe His word and they did not listen to His voice. Instead, they spent their time in their tents fussing over what could go wrong. On a smaller scale, KatieLyn's reaction parallels those of these Israelites—she lost faith in the promise God had given her, and she was not listening to his voice. She began to listen to the fussing voices.

Here, during the wilderness rebellion, these aspects of God's character are revealed, "The Lord is slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, forgiving iniquity and transgression, but he will by no means clear the guilty." ~Numbers 14:18

Forgiven, but not cleared. God now promises judgment.

Then the Lord said, "I have pardoned, according to your word.  But truly, as I live, and as all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the Lord,  none of the men who have seen my glory and my signs that I did in Egypt and in the wilderness, and yet have put me to the test these ten times and have not obeyed my voice,  shall see the land that I swore to give to their fathers. And none of those who despised me shall see it." ~Numbers 14:20-23

The promise was not revoked, but it was delayed because it was not received in faith. Verse 33, "And your children shall be shepherds in the wilderness forty years and shall suffer for your faithlessness, until the last of your dead bodies lies in the wilderness." The ten spies who caused the congregation to lose faith died of plague almost immediately. God was not about to let them keep sowing doubt and rebellion for another forty years.

Over 750 years later, Nehemiah was rebuilding the temple. He used the history of the wandering Israelites in his speech to exhort the people to keep their faith strong, saying, "But they and our fathers acted presumptuously and stiffened their neck and did not obey your commandments. They refused to obey and were not mindful of the wonders that you performed among them, but they stiffened their neck and appointed a leader to return to their slavery in Egypt." They made plans to return to their slavery in Egypt! How freaking crazy is that?!? Yet that is what KatieLyn did too. And then she acted on it.  Nehemiah continues, "But you are a God ready to forgive, gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and did not forsake them. (...) Forty years you sustained them in the wilderness, and they lacked nothing." ~Nehemiah 9:16, 17, 21

So God continued to provide, but He had no further use for those who had refused His plan. They'd chosen to reject a life of being led by God through faith and preferred to live life under their own reasoning. Oh, sure, the Israelites never lacked manna and their shoes did not wear out, but still... they missed the Promised Land. And others suffered because they did not walk out the promise in faith.

The Lesson
What has been provided by grace must be taken by faith. It is true in every dealing with God. Salvation has been given by grace, but it must be taken by faith. Every gracious promise must be received by faith. The same is true for healing and deliverance—what has been provided by grace must be taken by faith.

Certainly for the Israelites, and I believe for KatieLyn also, the things they doubted were not the problem; doubting God was the problem. I imagine that a good number of them prided themselves on being realists. Maybe like KatieLyn they told themselves that if they could not be 100% sure, then they best not enter Canaan. So they chose to please themselves, for "without faith, it is impossible to please God..." ~ Hebrews 11:6  They missed their Promised Land.