You shall remember all the way which the Lord your God has led you in the wilderness these forty years, that He might humble you, testing you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not.
-Deuteronomy 8:2
Surely I'm not the only one who has studied the journey of the Israelites from Eygpt to the promised land and questioned how they could forget so quickly everything that God had done for them. He provided water out of a rock, bread and meat from heaven. For forty years, their clothes never wore out. Forty years of walking and their feet never hurt. Yet every time an obstacle arose in their path they murmured. They cried. They complained. They chose to focus on present problems instead of past victories.
At the same time that I question "how could they", I have to stop and ask "how could I". I am just as guilty as the Israelites. The first sign of hardship, the first sign of opposition, the first time things don't go the way I think they should and I start questioning, "Where is God?" I focus on the problem in front of me instead of the way He has brought me through so many times before.
Just as Moses told the Israelites to remember how God had led them the past forty years, I need to remember and focus on how God has led me in the past. I need to remember how he called me to himself, how he has led me through past temptations, struggles and disappointments.
I need to remember because, just like the Israelites, I am journeying through a land that is not my home to a land that God has provided. It is a good land, a land full of every good thing. I land where I will lack nothing. (Deuteronomy 8:7,9)
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