Press Forward

Tell the people of Israel to go forward. (Exodus 14:15)

We read of many tragedies in The Bible. The first, and perhaps the most tragic is the fall of man. Adam and Eve, whose lives  were meant to be lived in the light of the glory of God, found themselves plunged into a world of spiritual darkness that they could never have imagined before the fall. 

The story of Noah is also a tragedy. The human race had wandered so far from its Creator, that God saw it necessary to ‘start again’ with one chosen family. The human race, with the exception of eight people, was wiped out. 

We also read a whole book of the Bible which relates a tragedy. The children of Israel wandered needlessly around a relatively small area of wilderness for almost forty years. A journey from Egypt to Canaan, which should only have taken eleven days, lasted 40 years. ‘The Israelites didn’t wander in the dessert for forty years because they were lost, but because of their faithlessness and rebellion’.  *
What wasted years! What tragedy!  The generation who was meant to be a people who fought and conquered nations, fought no battles except with their own natures.....and it looks like they lost those battles too!! 

We only have one life to live. Let’s make sure we don’t make the same mistake as many of our predecessors. Instead, let us be like the apostle Paul who boldly said:

‘Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.’  (Philippians 3:12,13)

Let us too, adopt Paul’s attitude, pressing onward and upward. ​​

'Marching onward, upward,
Marching steadily, onward,
Jesus leads the way,
Marching onward, upward,
Onward unto glory,
To the perfect day.’

Eliza E. Hewitt

Pauline Anderson

* NLT Study Bible. Introduction to Numbers