Progress In The Wilderness

This is the route the Israelites followed as they marched out of Egypt under the leadership of Moses and Aaron. At the LORD’s direction, Moses kept a written record of their progress. These are the stages of their march, identified by the different places where they stopped along the way. Numbers 33:1-2

NUMBERS 33 is one of those lists in the Bible that we think has little for us in the tedium of the detail. But if we put our feet into the sandals of those who stood on the edge of the wilderness, preparing to enter into the Promised Land, we realize that this list of every place they camped along the way would have evoked many memories. We might also see that this inventory was meant to shape Israel’s perspective on forty years in the wilderness. Likewise, it has something to say to us about our years spent traversing the wilderness of this world as we make our way to God’s holy land.

Three different kinds of places are included in this list. There are places that would have reminded the Israelites of the Lord’s faithfulness in meeting their needs —like when they found an oasis in the desert at Elim. Then there are places that would have called to mind their own failure and rebellion against the Lord —like when they complained against Moses at Rephidim when there was no water to drink. Interestingly, this divinely inspired list doesn’t mention the great sins of the people in these places. It is as if God had forgiven and forgotten and had no desire to throw it back in their faces. Then there are places where nothing of significance happened. These were ordinary days when God faithfully fed, led, and preserved them.

If you were to write down a record of your family’s journey through the wilderness of this world, wouldn’t it consist of the same three kinds of places —places and times in which God worked in significant ways to meet your needs, markers of great failures and sins in your family that threatened your progress, and then many ordinary days when God fed, led, and preserved you?

Lord, as we think back through the days and months and years of our lives, we thank you for the many points when you worked in unmistakable ways on our behalf. We are grateful for your divine forgetfulness of our sins —that you remove them as far as the east is from the west. And we thank you for all of the ordinary, unremarkable days when you fed us, led us, and preserved us as a family.