It takes eleven days to go from Horeb to Kadesh Barnea by the Mount Seir road. [But] In the fortieth year [after they left Egypt], on the first day of the eleventh month, Moses proclaimed to the Israelites all that the Lord had commanded him concerning them. (Deuteronomy 1:2, 3 NIV, 2-16-12)

File this one under “faith”

It was designed to be a two-week trip, give or take.

It took forty years.

That is the difference between living by faith and living by sight. The Israelites refusal to live by faith meant that they never lived in the promised land. It meant Caleb and Joshua got there forty years later than planned. It meant Moses and Aaron never got Promised Land dirt in their sandals and never tasted the milk or the honey.

God’s will, of course, was accomplished, but those who chose to walk by sight and not by faith never experienced it.

[Father, help me never slow down your plan by my lack of faith, and don’t let my lack of faith keep others away from your blessings.]