First, the good news: “Go on up to the land flowing with milk and honey!”
All you’ve ever hoped for is about to come true. The good life. The easy life. You can finally kick up your feet. Mimosas every morning; pinots every evening. Friends and family laughing around every table. #BLESSED bumper stickers on every car. Everything is finally working out.
Then the bad news: “But I will not go with you.”
All the promises, yet no presence. All the gifts, yet no Giver. A full life, but an empty soul. Plenty of outward wins, but an aching inner loss. Everything may be working out, but it’s still not enough. Even the Promised Land can feel lonely and distant.
Why? “Because you are a stiff-necked people and I might destroy you on the way.”
All your stubbornness may not dissuade God from fulfilling his promises to you. Your disobedience may not cancel out his blessings. But you may not be very very pleasant company
It’s better to be obedient in the Wilderness with God than obstinate in the Promised Land without him.