They traveled from Mount Hor along the route to the Red Sea, to go around Edom. But the people grew impatient on the way. – Numbers 21:4

Today's Scripture Reading (February 1, 2025): Numbers 21

When we are traveling, I am one of those guys who looks at a map and makes plans. I try to estimate when I can arrive at a particular place. I will plan to eat lunch at a specific place and spend the night in this city. I also tend to make a reservation in the area where I am planning to end my day. You have to understand, this was not the example my parents and grandparents passed down to me. In my childhood, we ate at a restaurant sometime between 11:30 and 1:00, depending on how hungry we were and whether we had found an appropriate stopping place. At the end of the day, we looked for a vacancy sign at a local motel. There were no plans, just the journey. Sometimes we made good time, and sometimes we didn't. But it was all part of the trip.

A few years ago, I was traveling with my wife on our annual vacation, and I had reserved a hotel room in a particular town along our journey. However, we encountered a problem about two hours from our destination. We were going through a rugged mountainous area, meaning there was only one road to our destination, and someone on a motorbike had met an unfortunate end just ahead of us on that road. It was about four in the afternoon when we reached the place where the police were stopping traffic. Slowly, we watched as vehicles reached the police barricade, had a conversation with one of the officers, and then turned around to go back into the town we were passing. 

When it was our turn to reach the front of the line, we were given our options. We could stay here; the road was expected to open around midnight. It was about four in the afternoon, so the wait time would be about eight hours spent sitting in a small mountain village. Or we could travel a couple of hours south, hoping to catch a ferry across a mountain lake and then drive another couple of hours to our destination. The problem was that, with the increased traffic, there was no guarantee that the ferry would be able to handle the increased traffic, at least not today. We had a decision to make.

It can be frustrating to watch a plan fail, especially if that failure means you have to delay something for which you have built up anticipation. Israel had planned to follow the path of the King's Road toward Canaan. But that required moving through land belonging to Edom. And Edom had denied passage. As a result, Moses and his itinerant community had to reverse their course and move back to the Red Sea to get around Edom. It was discouraging, and the people became discouraged. The detour began to shape how the people viewed the journey as a whole. And as often happens when we get discouraged, people start to look for someone to blame. As a result, Moses and his God were once again easy candidates for their criticism.  

Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: Numbers 22