THE STORY

Chapter 6: Wandering

  • God is not always a ______of the direct route.

“Wandering is living in the space between where I started and where I want to be.” Kyle Idleman, Author & Pastor

Why does wandering occur?

  1. God wants to ______us and ______us.

17When Pharaoh let the people go, God did not lead them on the road through the Philistine country, though that was shorter. For God said, “If they face war, they might change their minds and return to Egypt.” 18So God led them in a roundabout way through the wilderness toward the Red Sea. Exodus 3:17,18

By day the Lord went ahead of them in a pillar of cloud to guide them on their way and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, so that they could travel by day or night. 22Neither the pillar of cloud by day nor the pillar of fire by night left its place in front of the people. Exodus 3:21,22

2. We choose to ______God and go our ____ way.

30Then Caleb silenced the people before Moses and said, “We should go up and take possession of the land, for we can certainly do it.” 31But the men who had gone up with him said, “We can’t attack those people; they are stronger than we are.”… 32 They said, “The land we explored devours those living in it. All the people we saw there are of great size. 33We saw the Nephilim there. We seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes, and we looked the same to them.” Numbers 13:30-33

How will we respond?

The riffraff among the people had a craving and soon they had the People of Israel whining, “Why can’t we have meat? We ate fish in Egypt—and got it free!—to say nothing of the cucumbers and melons, the leeks and onions and garlic. But nothing tastes good out here; all we get is manna, manna, manna.” Numbers 11:4-6 (The Message)

“You will not eat it for just one day, or two days, or five, ten or twenty days,but for a whole month—until it comes out of your nostrils and you loathe it…” Numbers 11:19,20

  • In our wandering will we ______or ______?

“In accordance with your great love, forgive the sin of these people, just as you have pardoned them from the time they left Egypt until now.” Numbers 14:19