“Now rise up and go over the brook Zered.” So we went over the brook Zered. And the time from our leaving Kadesh-barnea until we crossed the brook Zered was thirty-eight years, until the entire generation, that is, the men of war, had perished from the camp, as the LORD had sworn to them. DEUTERONOMY 2:13-14
After 38 years in the wilderness, the last of the fighting men of that generation died, and God finally told Moses to move forward. That brought God’s people right to the threshold of the Promised Land, ready to cross the Jordan River. So they set up camp there, and Moses spoke to them for the last time. Deuteronomy records what God taught His people during the final 70-day countdown to entering the Promised Land.
It took 40 years for the people to get to the Promised Land. Now God was preparing this new generation for the challenges and opportunities that lay ahead. Moses began with a flashback: “Let me take you back before any of you were born. We were at Horeb, and God called us to move forward. If your parents had believed God, you would have been born in Canaan. But fear took over, and so you were born in the desert and that’s all you have ever known. Now God is calling you! It’s your moment of opportunity. It’s your moment of destiny.”
This is a story about God’s people facing a major transition. This book is God’s Word for people on the threshold of an entirely new experience, believers on the cusp of something new. God is bringing new opportunities, new challenges, and new blessings. You need to be ready.
Are you facing a major transition? Do you feel that you’re ready? Why or why not?
Written by Colin Smith
Read by Sue McLeish