Deuteronomy 1:2 “It is eleven days’ journey from Horeb by the way of Mount Seir to Kadesh-barnea.”

Don’t you love GPS? I mean, come on, don’t you love that voice that pops up whenever you miss your turn shouting, “Rerouting! Rerouting!” Then the map resets and gives you a new route. Sometimes, that new route can take you on quite a journey. If you had just trusted the directions the first time, you may have avoided a rather lengthy reroute.

Think how the Israelite children felt. A journey that could have taken as little as 11 days got “rerouted” into a 40 YEAR journey. Why? Because they missed their turn? Well, kind of. They missed their opportunity to trust the Lord Who had told them to trust Him. They missed the opportunity to go into the Promised Land and enjoy the blessings of the Lord. They, instead, wandered in the desert for 40 years until that generation was all dead. They missed it! Wow!

Our children can learn a lot from this lesson. No, I don’t mean if they don’t obey they are going to wander in the desert and die. But they may miss a blessing because of disobedience or lack of trust. They need to learn to trust the Lord’s direction given through His Word. They need to learn to obey Mom and Dad when you are giving godly counsel. They need to learn to rest in the fact that God knows best – ALWAYS.

Will you model that trust for them? Will you let them see you resting in the Lord’s commands? If you lead, they are much more likely to follow.