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Deuteronomy 1:22 "Then all of you came near me, and said, 'Let us send men before us, that they may explore the land for us, and bring us word again of the way by which we must go up and the cities into which we shall come.'"

 

In his last speech to the people, Moses is recalling how the Israelites were once right outside the Promised Land but ended up not entering due to their lack of faith. Guided by God, Moses had brought them to the doorstep of their inheritance. Before entering, Moses sent men ahead, to spy out the land and its inhabitants. Here, Moses says it was the people who asked him to do that, but in Numbers, where this story is first told, it was God who told Moses to do it (Numbers 13:1-2). So both God and the people thought it was a good idea for the Israelites to plan ahead, to get the lay of the land before entering. The difference is, though, that God wanted the people to see the promise of the land, and enter it knowing it had been given to them, trusting that He would help them overcome any obstacles or difficulties. The people, though, let fear and distrust take over, and hesitated about accepting their inheritance. (Deuteronomy 1:26-33). Unfortunately for them, this distrust led to their forty-year trek in the desert before the next generation was allowed to come back and take the land. 

 

It is OK, even prudent, to plan ahead, to try and see what might be coming and think about how to handle it with God's help. But it is essential to remember that we will have God's help. If we are trying to live our lives in accordance with His Will, He will guide us and protect us. He will liberate us from our enemies, just as he freed the Jews from Egypt. If we honestly look back on our lives, we can see all the times He did this for us. This does not mean we won't have struggles, struggles (aka crosses) are the only way to get to Heaven, but it does mean He will be there with us as we go through them. God wants to help us and bring us to the best Promised Land of all, that is His one hope for each of us.

 

When we try to plan ahead without total trust in God, we trip ourselves up. Many of the obstacles we can imagine become overwhelming ("The people are greater and taller than we; the cities are great and fortified up to heaven; and moreover we have seen the sons of the Anakim there." (Deuteronomy 1:28)). Without trust, we can become disheartened, even paralyzed, by fear or uncertainty. That fear takes us away from the goal and sends us out into the desert, wandering around until we are ready to reapproach the next step and trust that God will guide us through it.