Deuteronomy 8:2
And thou shalt remember all the way which the Lord thy God led thee these forty years in the wilderness, to humble thee, and to prove thee, to know what was in thine heart, whether thou wouldest keep his commandments, or no.
As we are driving the streets/highways, there are many construction related signs we will encounter to let us know what is up ahead. Signs like ‘slow down, workers present’, ‘caution, road work ahead’, ‘uneven road’ ‘loose gravel’ ‘be prepared to stop’, ‘one lane ahead’, ‘slow traffic ahead’, ‘expect delays’, etc…. These road signs are there to tell you what’s ahead and give you directions on what to do; these signs let’s you know what adjustments you have to make.
Even in life, there are some things we experience that will put up a sign, telling us to slow down (a health issue may come up), or uneven road (there is no balance between various aspects of our life)…..things come up in our life to put us on alert and for us to take heed to and to make some adjustments.
The one sign that takes you off the road you are on is the detour sign. Detours are a deviation from a more direct route, a deviation from the normal course. Detour means you have to go another route; you have to take an alternate route.
Deuteronomy 8:2 tells us about the detour that the Lord sent the Israelites on and how this detour was not just them aimlessly wandering around in the wilderness, but there was development taking place while they were on this detour.
They had come to the borders of the promised land they had been traveling toward since leaving Egypt. Moses sent spies out to survey the land; they saw that the land was good, it was just what the Lord had promised them. Yet their trust in their own inadequacy bloomed fear and they refused to go forward in what God set before them, they did not want to enter Canaan (Numbers 13:2, 21-25). Just think, all these years their parents had described the land to them as flowing with milk and honey, they had sang about going there, and talked about it, and even dreamed about…they were right there, at the very point of having what they had spoken with their very own mouths and they rather go back to where they came from (Numbers 13:26-14:10) than to go forward in what God had for them, what they had spoken...they rather go back than to walk toward what God has for them.
They had come to the very point, they were right there, at the very edge of entering into possessing what God has so promised their forefathers some hundreds of years earlier, yet they were not ready.
So when I say they were not ready, God was readying them for what he had promised; but they did not see themselves as there. In God’s sight, he sees us as being ready, being capable, being able to do; but in our own humanity, we have limited vision on what we see and how we see ourselves, and we tend to remain in those boundaries.
There they were, three days from Canaan (Numbers 10:33). Two years from Egypt (Numbers 10:11), three days to Canaan and they rather go back than forward (Numbers 14:4). They were closer to where God was taking them, what God had for them than where they had come from and they rather go back.
And so this is why the Lord sent them on detour. They were not ready to go forward in him…..they were not ready to go forward so the Lord sent them back. (Num 14:25-38)
This brings us up to our focus verse, where we see the Lord sent them into the wilderness to develop them.
There is development in the detour. Deuteronomy 8:2 tells us:
And thou shalt remember all the way which the Lord thy God led thee these forty years in the wilderness, to humble thee, and to prove thee, to know what was in thine heart, whether thou wouldest keep his commandments, or no.
First, the detour signs tell you exactly the way you are to go. The arrows point in the exact direction you are to go. If you try to deviate from that, you find you have run into a dead end or the condition of the road is such that you can’t drive on it and you have to turn around and end up following the way the detour was directing you to go from the beginning.
Path of the Lord
So in development, we have to follow the Path of the Lord: And thou shalt remember all the way which the Lord thy God led thee these forty years in the wilderness, to humble thee, and to prove thee, to know what was in thine heart, whether thou wouldest keep his commandments, or no.
The path the Lord chose for his people was the wilderness. The wilderness does not just refer to a desert place but it is an uninhibited plain country fit for feeding flocks, it’s an area not cultivated, uninhibited by humans…literally, there is nothing there….
God’s leads us into areas of ourselves that are not yet cultivated…. Him going into those uninhibited places, him cultivating those areas is what’s going to produce development in us.
You would think the wilderness would be the least likely place to cultivate anything, to be developed; after all, it is a dry place, there is nothing out there.
As he goes into the wilderness places of us, and begin cultivating those areas in us, it may appear overwhelming. The wilderness the Israelites wandered in is described as great and terrible (Deuteronomy 8:15)
So when God is cultivating areas in you, it is uncomfortable, like a ‘scary’ feeling sets in….think of cultivating you are digging and plowing and turning over and raking the ground….so all those things are going on inside of you and that feeling from what God is doing to you is ‘great and terrible’…..but my assurance is that it is the Lord doing it…..and he is not going to do anything to us to harm us (he loves us)…. Just like on a detour you have to depend on the signs posted, to trust the signs because you are going down streets you don’t usually travel so you can’t rely on your knowledge of direction, your sense of comfort with the landscape, your confidence in familiarity with your surroundings and you have to trust that the signs are going to get you to your intended destination; God is the one leading you so going into those uncultivated areas of you, you can trust his leading and go down his path; his path is the only way to development.
Pace of the Lord
There is a set pace for each of us for development: And thou shalt remember all the way which the Lord thy God led thee these forty years in the wilderness, to humble thee, and to prove thee, to know what was in thine heart, whether thou wouldest keep his commandments, or no.
They were sent to wander for 40 years in the wilderness, one year for each day they spied out the land.
Note that the forty years is not their punishment, it is the sentence to wander that is their punishment and dying in their wandering that is their punishment. Forty counts a generation. Forty years is just the pace. This pace was set by their very own mouth.…by their own mouth was their sentence….
They murmured and complained that they were going to die in the wilderness and that was their sentence (Numbers 14:28-29). They said their children was going to be prey to the inhabitants of the land and their children would be the very ones God would groom and grow them up to possess the land (Numbers 14:31).
When we look at ourselves, what has set the pace for our development? Every time we hesitate, disobey, complain….for each time we do not do, do not go, do not be is added to the pace of our development; that is one instance we did not apprehend to develop at that moment so it is added to the time we need to develop.
Pressing of the Lord
While we are on this detour, being developed, there is a pressing: And thou shalt remember all the way which the Lord thy God led thee these forty years in the wilderness, to humble thee, and to prove thee, to know what was in thine heart, whether thou wouldest keep his commandments, or no.
Usually when you hear the word humble, you think of submission, a lowering of oneself, taking a reserved position. Humble means be bowed down; here it means to afflict as a discipline.
Recall Israel did not want to go forward to possess the land reserved for them, they murmured and complained, saw the bondage they were delivered from as being better than liberty they were being given in God.
God is a loving God and Deuteronomy 8:5 tells is Thou shalt also consider in thine heart, that, as a man chasteneth his son, so the Lord thy God chasteneth thee.
So discipline was warranted.
Discipline brings you to a state of humility….it shines the spotlight on what was wrong and what needs correcting….when you discipline your child, they were going their own way, doing something that was not right; and when you discipline them, you are bringing them back in, you bring to their attention the course they were on and redirect them….it is humbling to be disciplined…..you have one of those ‘oh’ moments; you thought you were okay, but when you have to be disciplined it’s like ‘oh’ (an opening of the eyes)….that humbles you…..
Probing of the Lord
And thou shalt remember all the way which the Lord thy God led thee these forty years in the wilderness, to humble thee, and to prove thee, to know what was in thine heart, whether thou wouldest keep his commandments, or no.
Not just to humble you and stop there, but also to test you, to try you, to prove you. His testings are to see what is in us, to bring to surface what is really there, to bring out what is really in you; to see where our heart is, where our loyalty lies, whether we will obey him….it’s easy to say it but when push comes to shove, the truth comes out….that’s what his testing, trying does….
Remember Abraham; he tested him by directing him to sacrifice his beloved son (Gen 22:1-12). It brought out of Abraham his unwavering love for God; he said to Abraham in Genesis 22:12 "And he said, Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou any thing unto him: for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son from me."
It is God's Detours that leads to our Development in Him; a development to ascertain and apprehend all that He has destined for us.