Hebrews 1-4 Sandal tracks in desert circles

"For who were those who heard and yet rebelled? Was it not all those who left Egypt led by Moses? And with whom was he provoked for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness? And to whom did he swear that they would not enter his rest, but to those who were disobedient? So we see that they were unable to enter because of unbelief." - Hebrews 3:16-19

Why isn't our present practice of Christianity working, and why don't we see more of God's promises fulfilled? The same reason the practices of the Israelites in the wilderness didn't work and they never reached the land they'd been promised. Like them, we can be dramatically delivered from bondage, leave our Egypt, and yet never make it to our Promised Lands. We, too, can find ourselves lodged in a desolate wilderness between. Hebrews 3:19 supplies the one-word explanation: "so we see that they were not able to enter, because of their unbelief." 

Unbelief. Oh, they believed in God. Their oversight was that they simply didn't believe the God they believed in. They talked a good talk, but their walk did nothing but tread sandal tracks in desert circles. The Israelites of the Exodus were promised land, blessing, productivity, and victory; but the masses never saw their theology become a reality. The question raised in the wilderness wanderings was not whether the Israelites belonged to God or where they would spend eternity. The place the chosen people of God would spend their earthly existence was the question. The King James Version of Hebrews 3:17 underscores the outcome most vividly: their "carcasses fell in the wilderness."

You and I can be safely tucked in the family of God and have the full assurance of a heavenly inheritance without ever occupying the land of God's fulfilled promises on earth. We can completely miss our earthly destinies, and our carcasses, too, can fall in the wilderness. While Keith and I were in Africa last summer, we came upon the spine-tingling sight of a cow's entire carcass polished to the bone by a lion. God's Word tells us Satan is like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour (1 Pet. 5:8). Perhaps, like me, you could say that Satan has tried one ploy after another to destroy your life, your witness, and your fruitfulness. Will we let him have the satisfaction of cleaning our carcasses to the bone because we let them drop in a desert of defeat? God forbid.

I don't want to be counted among the faithless who never claimed the land God promised them. All that will matter about our earthly lives when we receive our heavenly inheritance is whether we fulfilled our callings and allowed God to fulfill His promises. I know I'm going to make it to heaven because I've trusted Christ as my Savior, but I want to make it to my Canaan on the way. I want to finish my race in the Promised Land, not in the wilderness. You too? Then we have to cash in our fear and complacency and spend all we have on the only ticket out: BELIEF.

- taken from Believing God by Beth Moore