May 4–10: “Rebel Not Ye against the Lord, Neither Fear” Numbers 11–14; 20–24; 27

Even on foot, it wouldn’t take 40 years to travel from the wilderness of Sinai to the promised land in Canaan. But that’s how long the children of Israel needed—not to cover the geographical distance but to cover the spiritual distance: the distance between who they were and who they could become as God’s covenant people.The book of Numbers describes some of what happened during those 40 years, including lessons the children of Israel needed to learn before entering the promised land. They learned about being faithful to the Lord’s servants (see Numbers 12). They learned about trusting the Lord’s power, even when the future seems hopeless (see Numbers 13–14). And they learned that being faithless brings spiritual harm, but they could repent and look to the Savior for healing (see Numbers 21:4–9).We’re all like the Israelites in some ways. We know what it’s like to be in a spiritual wilderness, and the lessons they learned can help us prepare to enter our promised land: eternal life with our Heavenly Father.For an overview of the book of Numbers, see “Numbers” in the Bible Dictionary.