Guest: Brian Kruckenberg
Title: 11 Days
Last summer during OnePrayer I was participating in the weekly fasts. On the morning of the first fast, I sat down to read out of Deuteronomy. I wasn’t quite sure what God would have for me there but after reading just a few lines I read something that I can’t ever recall reading before: “Normally, it takes only eleven days to travel from Mount Sinai to Kadesh-barnea…” (Deut. 1:2, NLT) I stopped right there. I couldn’t believe what I just read: Eleven days? Really? ELEVEN DAYS!?! So, what’s the big deal? Well, what should have taken the Israelites about ELEVEN DAYS took them FORTY YEARS…or, by simple calculation: 14,600 DAYS! You see, God wanted to give the Promised Land to the Israelites and they were a short eleven-day journey away from receiving this amazing gift but instead they bickered, doubted and rebelled their way to a journey that would last 14,600 days. That absolutely blows my mind.
There’s so much more to this story (no doubt, the battle for the promised land would have still been there) but the questions for now are these: What is taking us years that God could do in days? What issue has handcuffed you for years that you could be on the way to defeating in a few weeks if you listened to God, faced it head on and seriously dealt with it? Eleven days or forty years? It is up to us.
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I like to think of this as both a personal and corporate challenge…
We have the chalenge of biblical literacy in church culture, and all of its implications spiritual, moral, and cultural.
Your post brings it one step close on that journey towards the promised land…
When I remember what you discovered, I also remember that the Israelites needed that forty years, to get the “Egypt” out of them…and that is why it took so long…
A good reminder never to look back, but to look ahead, and trust God, no matter what…
I have learned the journey is much shorter… when we leave Egypt behind, and just follow…
[...] morning I read this on Lifechurch.tv’s blog: “Normally, it takes only eleven days to travel from Mount Sinai to [...]
Wow! Thanks for that insight. The Lord definately had something for you there when you read that. I needed to read that this morning.
Man - thanks for that - I am going to chew on that for a while. You really have me thinking and that is a wonderful thing!
I like that! Good blog. I choose eleven days.
Avery - good thoughts. There’s little doubt a battle for the promised land would have still been there but I believe God wanted His people to engage that battle, trust in God and allow Him to show His faithfulness (again!) in defeating those who occupied the promised land. This is such a visual reminder for me and helps me when I meet with people. Often we don’t engage the battle and don’t trust God for the victory so we stay the same. How many of us or our people are the same today as we were years ago? That shouldn’t be.
That is the best and most convicting thought I have heard in a long time. Thank you for sharing. I may be in day 3,426.
wow! God wanted me to hear that this morning - thanks.
Joe, Jim, Stacey Kevin and Noel…glad that God is speaking to you through this. He has really rattled my cage with this scripture over the past several months.
Thanks Brian. This speaks directly to somethings I have been struggling with. It’s quite a wake up call for me to realize that God’s not dealing with me necessarily. More like I’m struggling. I’m failing to make the right decisions.
great insight brian! very powerful…
Great words!
Kenyon - thanks for the transparency. God can use someone who is broken before Him.
You’re right Brian… there is also still that battle…
Few were willing to “go all the way” in spite of the odds, but Joshua and Caleb did…and led the battle…
What a testimony of their faith in spite of what things “seemed like”… but more importantly… what a testimony of the God of the Possible… and the two who got to play an intimate part in revealing that…who weren’t afraid…
Brian my prayer for you, myself, and everyone else that this spoke too is that we might be like Joshua or Caleb… and go all the way with trusting God no matter the odds, or what things look like… and go all the way, in spite of the culture… to trusting God in all battles cultural, spiritual, and otherwise…
I think when we stagnate, or notice that things haven’t changed in us in a long time, or in the church culture, or in marriage etc…… we need to ask the question… “what might I need to trust God with in spite of what I might think impossible…”
Sometimes the start of the promised land is an honest self-evaluation, and a prepared heart to accept what God might say needs correcting…
The next step is trusting God enough to follow through…
You blessed my day!
Profound words of God spoken through you!
This is awesome
Wonderful insight. And it excites me because it sounds so much like my book. You can check it out here: http://www.findinghomebook.com.
It’s about replacing striving with loving, seeking with exploring, thirsting with enjoying, fighting with reigning. About trading the wilderness life for the promised land one. Or as Hebrews puts it, giving up the old way of the written code for the new, living way of the Spirit opened up to us through Jesus Christ.
[...] for some time. What should have been an 11 day journey turned into 14,600 days. Check out a great blog on this by Brian Kruckenberg on swerve.lifechurch.tv. Nice thoughts on where we are in [...]