Thankful in Times of Drudgery – Part 3 of 5

Besides being on the same diet for forty years, the Israelites also had to follow the pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night. God required that at any time, day or night, if the pillar moved they had to move. Imagine how much work it took to pack up and move a nation of people with their tents and animals at a moment’s notice. What fun that must have been!

God had a reason for this. He was teaching them obedience and dependence. He wanted His children to keep their eyes on Him. Otherwise, they would have forgotten about Him long before and gone their own way.

Aren’t we the same? When things are going well, we forget to pray, but when troubles strike, we pray. Then when we do pray, we try to force His hand to fix things our way. That’s because human nature doesn’t really like submitting to God’s way. His way often seems to be the harder way. At least He cares more about us becoming like Christ than we do, so He doesn’t give in to our little tantrums.

The Israelites had a forty-year sentence. God mercifully numbered the lifespan of the first generation so that the next generation could enter the Promised Land. Sadly, the second generation didn’t learn from their parents’ mistakes. The time spent in the desert was meant to prepare them for a supernaturally blessed future, but they were slow learners.