We are in various stages of our wilderness journey, not knowing where our journey will take us. The turns give us opportunities to strengthen our faith.

The spiritual journey of God's people is more difficult than the physical one of the ancient Israelites, requiring as it does more resources to navigate.

If we yield to God's manipulation of our lives, we will handle stress constructively, developing a relationship with Him, bearing spiritual fruit.

Israel's trek was not only a physical journey, but a mental wandering caused by rejecting God's leadership. The potential to sin is a test of resolve.

Christ's suffering was not confined to crucifixion, but also consisted of rejection, humiliation, and the duress of persecution. Glory follows suffering.

God did not take ancient Israel by a direct route, and our lives likewise may seem to wander. We must trust God in spite of the detours, following His lead.

Wanderlust is the desire to travel and see new things. All of our patriarchs were pilgrims, seeking a more permanent homeland than the one they left behind.

We are not aimlessly wandering, but are on a God-guided pilgrimage. The circuitous route ensures our safety, just as it did for the ancient Israelites.

God's people must learn to trust Him for their survival, remembering that the eating of Unleavened Bread is a reminder that only God has the power to rescue.

If we, like Israel of old, choose to sin, we will receive the same consequence. Two thirds of the book of Numbers emphasizes that if we sin, we die.

The spies returned on the 8th of Av, and as the 9th of Av began, the people murmured, beginning a long list of calamities to befall Israel on this date.

God intends for us to learn daily lessons from living in booths during the Feast of Tabernacles, a joyous time after the harvest has been taken in.

We live daily in uncharted territory, but the sobering account in Numbers provides a roadmap, establishing God's pattern of judging our pilgrimage conduct.

If we patiently endure, trusting in God's faithfulness to bring us to completion, there will be a time when we will attain the rest we desperately yearn for.

Since God's thoughts are higher than ours, we must keep an intimate GPS-like dialogue with our heavenly Father so we can stay on the right path to the Kingdom.

The preaching the gospel to the world is at best the beginning of a complex process of creating disciples through steady feeding and encouragement to overcome.