Then we turned, and took our journey into the wilderness by the way of the Red sea, as the LORD spake unto me: and we compassed mount Seir many days. 2 And the LORD spake unto me, saying, 3 Ye have compassed this mountain long enough: turn you northward.
The children of Israel escaped from Egypt and saw God’s judgment upon the Egyptians as they were drowned in the Red Sea. Now after they had rejoiced and praised God for His deliverance they were instructed to move forward – He said they have gone around that mountain long enough. We have a similar saying, “We’ve gone around this matter too long”, meaning we have discussed or mulled over an issue too long, now we need to get beyond it.
God wanted Israel to go into the Promised Land that He had promised to Abraham years before this incident. He wanted them to go in and enjoy the blessings of that land “flowing with milk and honey”, so He instructed them to move on. God had delivered them from the threat from Egypt and now they were safely on the other side of the Red Sea and they had a journey before them. God would move them to Mount Horeb where He would meet with them and instruct them in His ways and laws. Israel had come from over 400 years of slavery in Egypt where they were exposed to the many gods of Egypt and even though they had retained certain knowledge about God from the oral tradition from Abraham to Isaac, to Jacob to Joseph and the other eleven sons of Jacob. Through the years their exposure to the Egyptian gods would have had a great impact upon them and they would be weak in their original knowledge. After they were made slaves they may not have been able to worship as taught by their fathers and may even had to bow to false gods. They also married Egyptians and this intermingling would have brought false beliefs into their religious base.
Now, God would lead them to the mountain and there He would give them the Ten Commandments and the various social, religious and interpersonal statutes to guide them in their worship, knowledge and moral living. They were beginning live anew with a relationship with the Creator God.
In the same way after we have received Christ as Savior and been forgiven our sins, we begin on a journey of knowledge and deepening relationship with the God that so loved us that He gave His Son for our salvation. We are not to stay in the euphoric moment of salvation but go forward. Too often people who get saved think they know more than they really do – they had attended Sunday School as a child and vacation Bible school and heard all the stories and so they think they do not need to be instructed in anything. Some have even decided that they should go right into preaching without any further study and Scriptural understanding. I have seen some who did this only to backslide when the pressures and challenges and attacks come about the word. They are not rooted in God’s word and understanding and so they are easily deceived into thinking their experience was only a “flash-in-the-pan”.
Some of the challenges and problems Israel encountered can be beneficial to us today as we look at their situations, grumblings and thinking; hence the title, “Wilderness Thanking”.
We come to God either as a total heathen or a church heathen – both are just as lost and both need training, teaching and instruction. The church heathens know more Scriptures and stories, but if that is all they caught while in Bible School or Sunday School, then they need instruction in applying Scriptural truths to their new life in Christ.
We all need instruction, no matter how old we are chronologically or spiritually and the Bible is an inexhaustible source of truth and wisdom. It all begins with fear of the Lord and goes on from there. God gave teachers to the church so that those who were now part of God’s family might learn and grow in knowledge and understanding. – “And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; {12} For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: {13} Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ:” Peter tells us – “ . . . beware lest ye also, being led away with the error of the wicked, fall from your own stedfastness. {18} But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.” God wants us all to grow and become strong in His word and his power. In order to do this there are often times some “wilderness thinking” that we need to eliminate.