Turning an 11 day journey into 40 years of wandering.

My devotional reading today was Deuteronomy . Moses is recapping where the nation of Israel has been. It is a reminder of how important it is to get things right the first time. When God says to go and do.... we are wise to listen. If the Israelites had listened, they would have saved themselves much grief and they would have enjoyed the blessings that only the next generation were able to enjoy. In essence they missed out because of their unbelief. The Bible says that the Lord heard the sound of their words and was angry. I do not want my words to cause God to be angry with me. What comes out of our mouth is a reflection of what is in our hearts. When we refuse to believe God or take him at His word and speak things that are contrary to who He is or what He desires for us. He gets angry with us. God's anger is something that I do not pay much attention to in the Bible. I have the ability to pay attention to the attributes I like. God is love....yes I like that one. Anger, not so much. Can you fathom that 11 days became a 40 year experience because of words that came out of the mouths of the Israelites? Moses lived it. He missed out and knew it. So he writes a summary of his journey to admonish the next generation to be careful to fully obey the Lord's commands. Perhaps all of us have examples of our own moments where we look back and realize that our perspective was steeped more in doubt and unbelief rather than faith and obedience. And we too, are able to share with others that is wise to listen and do what God wants the first time around. Who wants to waste 40 years in the wilderness when we could be living in the fulfillment of His promised blessings. The old hymn says it clearly, "trust and obey for there is no better way, to be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey"