Forty Years

My fortieth college reunion is this fall. Let me say that again, my fortieth college reunion! While mind has recoiled at such a ghastly thought, I did the math and sure enough, it’s true. I have been out of college for forty years.

As I have attempted to come to terms with the reality of being this advanced in years, I couldn’t help but think how much has changed in the world since they handed me my diploma. There are now cellphones, AirPods, iPads, space shuttles, ATMs, electric vehicles, self-driving cars, AI, and of course, COVID. Yes, the world is quite different than it was in 1985, but then again, so am I. 

It also did not escape my notice that forty is a significant number in the Bible. I read that whether it was forty days or forty years, you will see in Scripture times of testing, trials, or purification. In other words, God would use a specified length of time to refine his people, which makes me think about Israel’s season in the wilderness.

The Jews traced their roots back to Abraham, but they did not become a nation until God brought them out of Egypt. He told Moses that he had heard their cries for deliverance, and he had “come down to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land into a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey.” (Exodus 3:8) Therefore, he was sending Moses to bring his people back to the land he had promised to Abraham, Issac and Jacob.

We know this how this story goes, though. The people were set. They were ready, but then the spies came back with reports that there were giants living in the land. These people were powerful, and their cities were fortified (Numbers 13:28). Israel then did what Israel did best - they grumbled against Moses and Aaron:

“If only we had died in Egypt! Or in this wilderness! Why is the Lord bringing us to this land only to let us fall by the sword? Our wives and children will be taken as plunder. Wouldn’t it be better for us to go back to Egypt?” (Numbers 14:2-3)

Their greatest fears were being realized… giants and huge cities! What were former slaves and brick makers against trained armies! The people were swept up in a wave of emotion, and they forgot what they knew about God. All they could see was a huge mountain of trouble and they couldn’t recall the great miracles God had just worked to lead them to this place. He had protected them, fed them, and fulfilled every promise. Caleb tried to encourage them, “We should go up and take possession of the land, for we can certainly do it.” (Numbers 13:30). But they refused. They said, “No way. We want to go back to Egypt!”

Sadly, this fatal decision cost them their inheritance. This generation would never enter the

Promised Land – the land flowing with milk and honey – and for forty years, the people wandered in the wilderness waiting for this generation to die (Numbers 14:26-35). It was a harsh punishment, but there are consequences to our actions.

When I read these stories, I like to put myself in their shoes and ponder on how I would have reacted. Today, I hope I would have stood with Caleb and Joshua. I would have tried to rally the people to trust God, but forty years ago, I’m not so sure.

As I’ve shared before, as a teenager God called me to the ministry. I knew without a doubt he was asking me to follow him, but in 1980, the world was different. The only women I knew in ministry worked with children. I had no role models at that time like Beth Moore or Kay Arthur, and I could not imagine what God was asking of me. Thus, I slammed the door shut. Like Israel, I was content to stay in Egypt instead of trusting that what God was offering me was so much better. 

This decision led me to my own wilderness season, or as I call it, the dark night of my soul. I am grateful that my time of wandering didn’t last a full forty years, but as I think back, I see years wasted and so many blessings missed because I was blinded by sin.

Now I know that I cannot change the past, but if I could find a time machine and go back to the day of my graduation. What words of advice would I speak to my younger self? What truths could I point to that would penetrate the thick skull of a girl who thought she was going to take the world by storm?

So many thoughts rush through my mind, but then it hit me. I would tell my younger self to remember where she came from. I would tell her to remember her story.

I know what you are thinking: Not really that earth shattering, Lisa. But in a sense, it is. You see, I knew God forty years ago. I had been saved at age five, but along the way, I forgot who I belonged to. I just needed to wake up and remember what God had done in my life. I needed someone to tell me again about the miracles he had worked and the waters he had parted for me to pass through. I needed to hear that I was God’s special possession (1 Peter 2:9), and he did not make a mistake in choosing me.  

You see this in Scripture too. Over and over, the writers of both the Old and New Testaments used valuable space to stop and remind the people of their roots. Beginning with the song of Moses and Miriam (Exodus 15) to the powerful sermons of the New Testament (Acts 2:14-36; 7:2-53; 10:34-43; 17:22-31), God used the writers to tell his story. He wanted the people to remember the things he had done for them:

“I bathed you with water and washed the blood from you and put ointments on you. I clothed you with an embroidered dress and put sandals of fine leather on you…. I adorned you with jewelry: I put bracelets on your arms and a necklace around your neck, and I put a ring on your nose, earrings on your ears and a beautiful crown on your head…. Your food was honey, olive oil and the finest flour. You became very beautiful and rose to be a queen. And your fame spread among the nations on account of your beauty, because the splendor I had given you made your beauty perfect, declares the Sovereign Lord.” (Ezekiel 16:9-12,14)

God cared for and loved Judah. There was nothing the people lacked, but the nation grew proud. The people forgot who had given them their lives, their possessions, their success, and they chose instead to worship what their own hands had made.

They forgot their story.

In his book, The Blue Parakeet, Scot McKnight wrote, “God tells his story so we can enter into a relationship with him, listen to him, and live out his Word in our day in our way.”  Friends, God is still calling to his people to return, to be faithful, and to have no other gods before him. Forty years ago, I couldn’t hear his voice. I allowed the world to drown it out as I chased after the things that did not matter. But God never gave up on me, and when he finally saw me on the road coming home, he tucked up his robe and ran to meet his prodigal daughter.

And now I tell his story. That is why I write each week because I want people to know God. I want people to find their own place in his greater Kingdom story.

I want people to remember.

For the glory of God! Lisa

Discussion Questions

What do you need to remember about your own story with God?

What are some "Promised Lands" that we hesitate to enter due to fear or doubt?

How might our actions today serve as a 'bad report' that discourages others in their faith journey?