The Israelites were on their way to the promised land. They had the promise, they had their past experiences and they had the physical manifestation of God in the cloud they were following. Time and time again Israel kept getting distracted by present circumstances. These circumstances would cause Israel to get tunnel vision. When you follow a pattern with repetition you create a habit. Israel created the habit of envisioning death every time they ran into a problem.
Numbers 21:4-5
“They traveled from Mount Hor along the route to the Red Sea, to go around Edom. But the people grew impatient on the way; 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!”
“And we detest this miserable food!” oh my. Sometimes the road to your destination is not quite what you thought. Sometimes it takes a little longer than anticipated. Sometimes it takes more effort than you once thought.
It’s easy to get so focused on what you don’t see, what you don’t have, what you haven’t accomplished, that you become discouraged. It’s here where we forget why we are doing what we are doing. We forget the past experiences, the words God spoke to us. The promises of purpose and vision.
The key is to not get distracted by what you don’t see. It said in Numbers that, “the people grew impatient on the way.” They were getting frustrated because they were cultivating dissatisfaction. They kept thinking about how they didn’t like manna and wanted bread. They kept thinking about what they once had and what they don’t have now. They are stuck in the past.
The key is to remember “why”. Why are you doing what you are doing? What was said that got you moving in the first place. When we can remember the “why”, we start remembering where we are going, the destination. The Israelites were slaves in a land not their own. They were going to a land of freedom and abundance. They kept thinking about what they used to have and therefore they longed to go back to what was familiar. Thoughts like this cause us to forget where we are going.
The key of all keys, or the master key is to remember. When our focus is on what we don’t see it becomes hard to remember.
To be continued…….