Are We There Yet?Sample

Destination Training Along the Way

The last bit of any waiting season often feels longer than the total time of the wait. I don’t think that it was any different for the Israelites. The promised land was right in front of them, but they still had a few more days of waiting left.

A few days before the great invasion of Jericho, Joshua sent some spies to find out more about the Israelites’ destination. “He instructed them, ‘Scout out the land on the other side of the Jordan River, especially around Jericho’” (Joshua 2:1, NLT). Joshua knew that all the agony of their 40-year wait would be in vain if they messed it up when they got there.

So, the Israelites waited a few days more. And those few days made all the difference. Had the spies not investigated their destination, the Israelites would have been clueless when the thick walls of Jericho came down (Joshua 6). But more importantly, without the spies’ encounter with Rahab, she would not have survived to become the great-grandmother of Jesus! “Salmon was the father of Boaz (whose mother was Rahab)” (Matthew 1:5, NLT)

Many centuries later, the disciples underwent similar destination training from Jesus during the last few days of the world’s waiting season. “‘I am telling you these things now while I am still with you. But when the Father sends the Advocate as my representative - that is, the Holy Spirit - He will teach you everything and will remind you of everything I have told you” (John 14:26, NLT). All of Jesus’ pain and agony would have been lost to future generations if the disciples had not learned about the Holy Spirit well in advance of Pentecost.

What have you learned about your destination during your waiting season so far? How can you make the most of your waiting time by preparing for the other side?

Let us ask the Father to teach us what we need to know about our destination. Let us be aware of the wisdom that God wants to give us during our seasons of waiting. “Ask me and I will tell you remarkable secrets you do not know about things to come” (Jeremiah 33:3, NLT).