Egypt to the Promised Land [Numbers 33]

51"Speak to the sons of Israel and say to them, 'When you cross over the Jordan into the land of Canaan,
52then you shall drive out all the inhabitants of the land from before you, and destroy all their figured stones, and destroy all their molten images and demolish all their high places;
53and you shall take possession of the land and live in it, for I have given the land to you to possess it.
54'You shall inherit the land by lot according to your families; to the larger you shall give more inheritance, and to the smaller you shall give less inheritance. Wherever the lot falls to anyone, that shall be his. You shall inherit according to the tribes of your fathers.
55'But if you do not drive out the inhabitants of the land from before you, then it shall come about that those whom you let remain of them will become as pricks in your eyes and as thorns in your sides, and they will trouble you in the land in which you live.
56'And as I plan to do to them, so I will do to you.'"

Most of Numbers 33 is the short version of what we have read in Exodus and Numbers about the 40 year journey the Israelites took beginning with the escape from captivity in Egypt to the promised land through the desert region of the Sinai. I tried to find a map of this journey, but apparently, many of the places do not exist anymore and no one is absolutely sure of the route. However, if you are interested in looking at some maps of the various ideas of where the people traveled, you can find some on the internet if you google "Numbers 33 map of journey." Make sure you look at several sites to get the different perspectives on the journey.

The last paragraph of Numbers 33 captured my attention even more than my search for the maps. I was especially interested in what God said in verses 55 and 56 (see above). As I read the Old Testament, I first look at it through the historical lens as actual accounts of people, places and event. I pay particular attention to God because my goal in reading is to know Him better. As I read, I mark all mentions of God so that I can easily see what it says about Him. In addition, I invite God to teach me about Himself and to work in my heart any truths I am ready to receive on that particular day.

Next, I view the text through the lens of my New Testament understanding that the Old Testament is often a physical picture of a spiritual truth. For example, if you want to wander in the desert spiritually speaking, then don't trust God when He tells you to go into the promised land. Instead whine about how good it was in Egypt (a symbol for fleshly or worldly living) and focus on the giants (challenges in going God's way) in the land.

55'But if you do not drive out the inhabitants of the land from before you, then it shall come about that those whom you let remain of them will become as pricks in your eyes and as thorns in your sides, and they will trouble you in the land in which you live.
56'And as I plan to do to them, so I will do to you.'"

As I look for the spiritual truth for me in this physical Old Testament situation, I can see that God is telling me to be ruthless in dealing with my sin patterns because they will be like "pricks in my eyes and as thorns in my sides." I have tried to hang onto various worldly stuff through the years through rationalizations, by ignoring them or even lying to myself about them. God lets me do that for a time, but eventually, they get me into trouble!!

For example, people in my family have issues with alcohol. For many years, I didn't drink at all when the kids were living at home. Then, I began enjoying a glass of wine with dinner occasionally. That turned into and every night event and eventually became a two glass a night habit. All the while, I knew deep down that I was playing with fire and that God loved me too much to let me continue down that destructive path.

My wake up call came one night when we were visiting family in Chicago some years ago. We all went out for Mexican food that evening. Someone ordered a pitcher of Margaritas and I ended up drinking more than I can handle resulting in combination a sugar high and alcohol high. I acted pretty silly and had a hard time getting calmed down to sleep that night. Thankfully, there was no hangover in the morning, but I did feel kind of foolish when my brother-in-law teased me about the evening. I told him it was just the sugar high and that I wasn't really drunk.

It wasn't until a week later when I was talking to my daughter on the phone. She commented on how I had acted that night in Chicago and I gave her the same story I gave her uncle, it was just a sugar high. Thankfully, she was honest with me and said, "Mom, you were drunk." Ouch!!!! It certainly felt as bad as "a prick in the eye or a thorn in my sides." That was a turning point for me. God got my attention and I acknowledged the truth that I had a problem that would only get worse like it had with so many of my family members. I asked God to give me the strength to walk away from alcohol and that is what I have done by His grace for the past several years. Every morning, I keep acknowledging my weakness for alcohol and put on His ability to be free of it one more day. He has been faithful to keep me content without the alcohol.

It is funny how I thought giving it up was going to take some joy out of my life. That was a big lie. God's joy has replaced that momentary pleasure that seemed so good, but for me was so bad!

Please don't take my story to mean that drinking a glass of wine or whatever is a sin. It is not for many, but for some of us, it is a snare into a destructive lifestyle.

God, I praise You for Your Word and how it exposes the layers of wrong thinking and sin in our lives. I praise You that You allow us to make wrong choices, but are at the same time working in our hearts and minds to show us our errors.  I thank You that You are faithful to take those mistakes and weaknesses and use them for ministry and miraculously turn them into strengths. Cause us to be willing to see the truth about ourselves and to exchange our ways for Your ways. We can't, but You can.











Beth Warlick, 8/12/2010