Is Forty Years Too Long?

“For the Lord your God has blessed you in all the work of your hand.  He knows your trudging through this great wilderness.  These forty years the Lord your God has been with you; you have lacked nothing.”  Deuteronomy 2:7

Dear Heavenly Father, I pray for those whose journey has been long.  Lord, I pray for this year to be a time of release and a time of stepping out of the wilderness and stepping into your promises.  Lord, I pray for Deeper Still to be a vehicle of transport from the wilderness into the wonder of Your faithfulness.  In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

The Lord spoke the above to Moses.  Moses had been in the desert forty years with the Israelites.  The time was coming near when the Israelites would end their wandering and enter into a season of promise.   The Lord had spoken that it would be Joshua and Caleb who would bring the Israelites’ descendants into the promise land. 

I have to wonder if Joshua ever questioned if the time would ever come.  Was forty years in the desert too long?  Forty years of wilderness is a long time. 

I am forty-one years old now and there are hurts that are nearly forty years old.  There are people and patterns that haven’t changed in forty years.  There is a mountain that seems insurmountable.  My heart longs for change, longs for promises, and desires resolution and restoration.  There is a hope of possibility lingering.  I am faced with the challenge of choosing to continue in faith or lying down and giving up the journey towards promise. 

Did the Israelites ever give up on the journey?  Joshua’s faith may have been strong, but surely some of the younger Israelites wondered from time to time if the promises would truly come to pass. 

Is it a sin to question?  My humanity doubts not the Lord but other humans.  I don’t believe that God isn’t big enough.  The question is whether another human will follow Him or choose the path of least resistance and continue in long formed patterns.  The beckon of free will is both a gift and burden.

However the book of Joshua drips with faith.  The Israelites and Joshua believed.  What did they believe?  They believed the Lord was with them.  In the first chapter of Joshua, the words, “Be strong and of good courage” are found four times.  It takes courage to go forward in faith.  It takes courage to keep moving toward the promise after forty years of wandering.  Many times it is those last few steps that take the most courage.  When you see the Jordan, it takes courage to step in. 

For those who have wandered in the wilderness of an abortion-wounded heart, the Lord is calling you to step out in 2016 and enter into the promise land.  The Lord is with you. He has been with you the past 5, 10, or 40 years.  He never left.  He has blessed you in the wilderness but now it is time to cross over the Jordan.  Forty years is not too long.  The Lord is able to do a mighty deliverance.  The words the Lord spoke to Joshua ring true for His people today:

“Be strong and of good courage; do not be afraid, nor be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”  Joshua 1:9

Go to www.godeeperstill.org to register for your retreat today.  2016 is the year of stepping out into your promise.