So many times I hear people say I was in the Wilderness, meaning they had their sojourn as Israel did in the wilderness for unbelief or walking away from God.
There are some who use the wilderness as a dry spell, God not talking to them, etc. Yet that thinking mis-characterizes the whole wilderness sojourn for the Israelite's. Israel wandered in the wilderness for their unbelief. They wandered because they did not trust God to deliver unto them the promises He had made. They wandered until the faithless unbelieving among them died out.
Deu 1:34 And the LORD heard the voice of your words, and was wroth, and sware, saying,
Deu 1:35 Surely there shall not one of these men of this evil generation see that good land, which I sware to give unto your fathers,
The time in the Wilderness was for Israel to lose a whole generation of rebellious unbelieving people who failed to acknowledge God and His Power, His awesomeness, His Ability to provide. 40 years they lived in the wilderness, for unbelief. 40 years to weed out the bad seed, 40 years to go 11 miles.
40 years. The Generation that had been delivered from Egypt, saw the red sea divide, saw the pillar of fire and the cloud. Heard, Literally heard the Lord speak and this generation could not believe He would lead them into the promised land. So they were cursed and punished.
Moses on the other hand was a totally different situation.
Moses grew up in the palace, pampered, educated, wholly protected from real life and the hardships of the people he was to deliver.
Moses , in his own power, killed an Egyptian and tried to push the agenda of God ahead of God's time. He didn't know God, He was unaware of the God he was to serve and the people he was to deliver. You say "but he did know the Israelites" I am sure that he did know of them, their struggles, but he had not struggled with them, he had not gone through their trials, their slavery. He was the son of Pharaoh, he would have never had to lift his hand to work in the field, to make bricks with limited supplies and a quota to make.
Exo 2:11 And it came to pass in those days, when Moses was grown, that he went out unto his brethren, and looked on their burdens: and he spied an Egyptian smiting an Hebrew, one of his brethren.
Exo 2:12 And he looked this way and that way, and when he saw that there was no man, he slew the Egyptian, and hid him in the sand.
He looked on his brothers, he saw them toiling, being oppressed but he had no internal knowledge. For if he had known, truly known he would not have slew the man knowing the reprisals that the Jews would face for his rash acts..
Moses was young and hot headed, he did not consider the consequences of his actions. How many of us would recognize this? For we in our day were just as hot headed and brash.
Exo 2:13 And when he went out the second day, behold, two men of the Hebrews strove together: and he said to him that did the wrong, Wherefore smitest thou thy fellow?
Exo 2:14 And he said, Who made thee a prince and a judge over us? intendest thou to kill me, as thou killedst the Egyptian? And Moses feared, and said, Surely this thing is known.
Exo 2:15 Now when Pharaoh heard this thing, he sought to slay Moses. But Moses fled from the face of Pharaoh, and dwelt in the land of Midian: and he sat down by a well.
Now the next day he went out and discovered that his actions were not unknown. Now when he killed the Egyptian he looked all around and no man saw him as far as he knew, so how did this thing become known?
And the Israelite did not know Moses, he knew him only as a prince of Egypt. He worried that Moses might kill him, which was a valid fear for anyone who crossed the royal family at that time.
Moses was an unknown in the mind of the Israelites, he was sent by God to free the Israelites but neither Moses nor the Jews were fully aware of this at this point in time.
So what did Moses do when he was found out?
Exo 2:15 Now when Pharaoh heard this thing, he sought to slay Moses. But Moses fled from the face of Pharaoh, and dwelt in the land of Midian: and he sat down by a well.
He ran. As most of us would, no longer convinced of his own strength, his own might, his own courage.
So Moses runs away, stops at a well, helps the women who came there to fill the water pots, and is then rewarded by being given a job and a wife.
Moses goes from young hot head to stable married man.
What a change.
And for the next forty years Moses leads sheep.
So what do we take away from all this?
God had a plan, God had a man, God had a mission for this man.
God sent him to the desert for 40 years to learn how to tend to large groups of sheep. Why? Because he still had a mission from Good.
God still had a Will and a plan for this man despite how bad the guy messed up.
Moses was sent to the desert to mature, to grow, to settle down. Once he became humble God was willing to put his plan into action.
Moses messed up the timeline, possibly, Moses put God's agenda on hold for a period of time. Or at least that is what we think. I think God's perfect plan included all this for we know God is not surprised by anything we do. Moses needed to learn some very serious humility lessons, God knew this and sent him to the very place he could do so.
The Israelites sinned and had the reward taken from them, They were sent to the wilderness to die.
Moses sinned, not in unbelief, not in rejection of God, but in earnestness, and the power of his own might, he was not truly trusting in God yet. He was not fully aware of who God was yet.
He had to grow and mature so he could be ready when the time came.
Just because you have been put on hold doesn't mean God has rejected you. He may just need to see some maturity before He gives you your mission. It is not in and of you, your greatness, your talents. It is all about Him and reliance on Him.
He may just be letting you age, mature until the time comes that you are ready for Him.
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