Whether we inherit our covenant promises or not will depend on whether we follow the Lord fully or not.
“So the LORD’s anger burned in that day, and He swore, saying, ‘None of the men who came up from Egypt, from twenty years old and upward, shall see the land which I swore to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob; for they did not follow Me fully, except Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite and Joshua the son of Nun, for they have followed the LORD fully.’” (Numbers 32:10-12)
Our destination does not depend on how or where we start, but on how we walk in faith towards it, that is, how fully we follow the leading of the Lord and the guidance of His sanctifying truth in our journey towards it.
Look at the Israelites – from twenty years old and upwards – who came out of Egypt together. All started the God-ordained journey together, but only Caleb and Joshua made it to the promised land because “they have followed the LORD fully”. Not even Moses and Aaron could enter the promised land on account of their disobedience (Numbers 20:12; Numbers 27:12-14; Deuteronomy 3:23-26).
Thus, what lessons can we learn here?
Today, our “promised land” is the city which has firm foundations, whose architect and builder is God – a city that Abraham was looking for, a better country (than Canaan) that God has prepared for us, the children of the promise of Abraham (Hebrews 11:9-16; Romans 9:6-8), both in the present age and the ages to come.
Yet, just like the Israelites in the wilderness, we cannot enter the promised land if we do not follow the Lord fully; and we cannot follow the Lord fully if we do not know the holy nature, moral character, sovereign will, transcendent truth, and eternal purpose of God completely. After all, we cannot follow what we do not know or understand; we cannot follow someone whom we cannot entrust our lives; and we cannot follow a destiny where we do not deem worthwhile going.
“I know your deeds and your toil and perseverance, and that you cannot tolerate evil men, and you put to the test those who call themselves apostles, and they are not, and you found them to be false; and you have perseverance and have endured for My name’s sake, and have not grown weary. But I have this against you, that you have left your first love. Therefore remember from where you have fallen, and repent and do the deeds you did at first; or else I am coming to you and will remove your lampstand out of its place—unless you repent.” (Revelation 2:2-5)
Just like the church in Ephesus, many of us have started well, and even some have endured sufferings for the call of God. Yet some of us, for various reasons, may have deviated from God’s truth for doctrines of men, digressed from our calling to follow other pursuits, or left our God-ordained path to follow another destiny. But God is so full of lovingkindness that He is giving us an opportunity to repent and re-embark on our predestined journey towards His covenant promise.
So, let us study the complete map of the Bible again (so that we know who, what, and to where we are following), recalibrate our bearings to the Spirit of truth (so that we have sanctified spiritual senses for the Spirit’s guidance), and re-embark on our journey from where we have disembarked (so that we can go where God has predestined, not where self wants to go); so that we can arrive at the city that God has prepared for us as our inheritance.
How fully do you follow the Lord?
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