Numbers 20:6-13 KJV
(6) And Moses and Aaron went from the presence of the assembly unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, and they fell upon their faces: and the glory of the LORD appeared unto them.
(7) And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,
(8) Take the rod, and gather thou the assembly together, thou, and Aaron thy brother, and speak ye unto the rock before their eyes; and it shall give forth his water, and thou shalt bring forth to them water out of the rock: so thou shalt give the congregation and their beasts drink.
(9) And Moses took the rod from before the LORD, as he commanded him.
(10) And Moses and Aaron gathered the congregation together before the rock, and he said unto them, Hear now, ye rebels; must we fetch you water out of this rock?
(11) And Moses lifted up his hand, and with his rod he smote the rock twice: and the water came out abundantly, and the congregation drank, and their beasts also.
(12) And the LORD spake unto Moses and Aaron, Because ye believed me not, to sanctify me in the eyes of the children of Israel, therefore ye shall not bring this congregation into the land which I have given them.
(13) This is the water of Meribah; because the children of Israel strove with the LORD, and he was sanctified in them.

God’s justification is never completely understood by man. Moses very aware of who God is and God’s authority, willfully disobeyed God out of his anger. Aaron too would be not be allowed to go into the promise land. Yet they would lead a people for forty years in the wilderness despite their disobedience to God, before bringing them to the door of the promise land. Forty years is a long journey when it only took a few weeks to get to Israel land. After all Jacob and his son’s went to Egypt in less time. It is like saying Christopher Columbus first landed off the Florida keys and telling the story of the Pilgrims at Plymouth rock no one grasping two different groups anchoring off the shore of America. One coming from England and the other from Spain, yet these two stories seem often in twined. Let us get our facts straight.

Moses never been to Israel, second neither had Aaron. Did they know where they were growing? It took God leading by a Cloud by day and fire by night to even get to the promise land. Yet my thoughts are if Moses knew his time would be up when he got Israel to the promise land how long do you think he try and preserve his own life. It like telling a person the day you stop preaching is the day you will die, then how long will that person preach. How long would that person tell the Gospel message. Yet God was in control of the life of Moses and Aaron despite disobedience before the tribe of Israel.

Israel not knowing where the promise land was and probably not thinking about their ancestors journey 400 years before had not realized the distance was even shorter then the way they were going, or was it because they were still running from Pharaoh who died in the red sea.

God gave Moses and Aaron forty years in the wilderness to teach the people His ways and His instruction were to be followed. Did Moses preserve his life, no God did. After all God had the map to the promise land. Did Moses ever bow before God and repent of the sin of disobedience, we do not know, but we do know his life changed to one of strict obedience. He knew the presence and the power of God and whatever time he had left he was going to obey the Lord, even if it meant wandering for forty years out in that hot arid sun, with little food, and little water but what God provided. Would you walk to human hell of life for a people who struggled in faith and obedience, knowing you had failed? Or would you stay hoping to teach those people what you had learned about faith and obedience to God. If Moses had the map after finding out that one disobedience could cost you the entrance into the promise land, he sure was not going to disobey God by not following the cloud by day and the fire by night.

God is going to preserve your life until your task with Him is done. He is going to preserve your life as long has he has promised. However disobedience might shorten the quality of life you have. If Moses had obeyed God and if Aaron had obeyed God and if the people had obeyed God how short would the trip of been to Israel? Only a few days. Yet people that are not inline with God sometimes has to go through that desert heat before finding the valley of promise flowing with milk and honey at a stead past that you never hunger and thirst anymore.

Dear Heavenly Father thank you for the heat in the desert, but also for the honey and milk in the valley of the shadows of death where we never fear any evil. In Jesus precious name, Amen.