A way so short... and yet so long

"There are eleven days from Horeb by the way of Mount Seir to Kadesh-barnea. And it came to pass in the fortieth year, in the eleventh month, on the first day of the month, that Moses spake unto the children of Israel according to all that Jehovah had commanded him for them." Deuteronomy 1: 2, 3

Every reader beginning the book of Deuteronomy is certainly surprised by the contrast between these two expressions : "Eleven days ago ... and it happened in the fortieth year." The road was so short, and yet it was so long, because of the unbelief of the people (Numbers 14:33).

What happened in Horeb ? There, God, in his love for this people, wanted to make it a kingdom of priests, a holy nation. All this is contained in the covenant - "my covenant" - which God made for love with Israel (Exodus 19: 4-6), but which the people quickly broke down (Jer 31:32).

Kadesh-Barnea is already the land of Canaan, the inheritance, that is, all that this love of the covenant had in view for them.

Thus, on the side of God's thoughts, for his people the road is short from Horeb to Kadesh-Barnea, from the covenant to the inheritance : eleven days, and yet the people have remained forty years in the wilderness.

How incredulity lengthens the road! But why has unbelief settled in the hearts of the chosen people ? It is because he gradually lost the sense of the beauty of the covenant of God, he forgot that God loved him.

Chapters 3 and 4 of the Epistle to the Hebrews show us that this ancient story is an image of the history of our soul. For God, the path is short between the moment when his love is poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit given to us (that is, where we have the certainty of being loved by Him) and the moment Where we enter into the rest of God (Heb 4: 3), where we take full advantage of all that divine love has prepared for us.

Yet, because of the "flesh" that is in us, the road will be long. For it will be necessary, as for the people, to learn through our rebellions, our murmurings, our impatiences, what is in our hearts (Deut. 8: 2, 3). But also to experience the grace and patience of a God who accompanies us and who wants to "do us good in the end" (Deut. 8:16), at the end of the path of the history of our soul.

Source (To pleasing the Lord)