Does this place look familiar?

Some wandered in desert wastes, finding no way to an inhabited town. Psalm 107:4

Does this place look familiar?
By Rev. William Dohle

Confession time. I get lost very very easily. Ask anyone who's ever traveled with me and they'll tell you on average I turn around two or three times everywhere I go.

When I lived in Southern California it was bad. Armed with a street map guide I would frequently be pulled over on the side of the road, searching for where I was.

In Colorado and Montana, I would often pass by the tiny streets that led to people's homes. Once I drove my wife and I on the wrong side of the mountain to get to the house we were heading to. Scary part is... I'd been there before.

And alas, two years ago on a trip with our youth to St. Louis I led two of our chaperones all over the city, trying to find this or that. Crazy part is... I warned them!

I know what getting lost looks like and sounds like. I've been there and done that, as they say.

So when I'm reading this section of verses at the end of chapter 21 in Numbers I'm thinking: The people of Israel are lost! Utterly and hopelessly lost!

Listen to how they travel...

The Israelites set out, and camped in Oboth. They set out from Oboth, and camped at Iye-abarim, in the wilderness bordering Moab toward the sunrise. From there they set out, and camped in the Wadi Zered.  From there they set out, and camped on the other side of the Arnon, in the wilderness that extends from the boundary of the Amorites; for the Arnon is the boundary of Moab, between Moab and the Amorites. (Numbers 21:10-13)

That's just the start of their trip. Notice how many times they "camp" and then "set out." And if you're still not convinced they're lost listen to verse 16... "From there they continued to Beer; that is the well of which the Lord said to Moses, 'Gather the people together, and I will give them water.'"(Num. 21:16)

See what happened here? The people went in a circle! They'd already been to this well before. it was the well of which the Lord said, "Gather the people and I will give them water." They've traveled in a circle! They're lost!

So why do the people then sing to the well. Why do the people rejoice??

"Spring up, O well! -- Sing to it!--
the well that the leaders sank,
that the nobles of the people dug,
with the scepter; with the staff."(Num. 21:17-18)

Maybe we can understand this song by understanding this little thing. The people of Israel are NOT lost! They've been wandering the wilderness true, but they've not been wandering without direction. God has been with them the entire time. And this well is a reminder of what God did for them through their ancestors. This well, come around again, reminds them that God provided them water in the past and will continue to provide water in the future. It reminds them of God's presence.

There's a really cool saying, I can't tell you where it's from, but it says something like this:

Not all who wander are lost.

It's a wonderful statement for how the people of Israel travel too. For their goal is the Promised Land, but they don't go straight there. Instead they wander around the wilderness, going here and there. They stop at a well God gave to Moses and there they rejoice over what God did for their ancestors and how God continues to watch over them.

Maybe we should take a cue from them. A little less rushing about. A little more wandering. Then we may find ourselves back at that Well which our ancestors drank and which continues to provide us with Living Water.

Holy God, stay near us when we wander away. Circle our roads that, no matter where we go, we return to your grace. Amen.