“Are We There Yet?”
“Are We There Yet?”
When I was little, I’d love it when the whole family would pile into the station wagon and head off to Uncle Doug and Aunt Fran’s dairy farm up in northeast Maryland.
All of us kids loved Uncle Doug. He let us milk the cows and feed them grain. It was so much fun to reach out and pet the soft, wet muzzle of a cow munching away on her cud. The barn brimmed with hay where we could build forts and throw straw. And out in the back acres it was “Tomato Wars” with big, juicy, overripe tomatoes.
We’d be in trouble, of course, when we’d come into the farmhouse for dinner, all covered with tomato. But it was all part of the fun.
It really wasn’t that far to Uncle Doug’s in the car—maybe only fifty miles. But for some reason the trip seemed to take forever. Not more than fifteen minutes into the drive, we would lean over the front seat and whine, “Are we there yet? When are we gonna get there?” and “Why is it taking so long?”
That memory came back to me recently when I was studying the book of Numbers in the Bible. Freshly released from four centuries of slavery in Egypt, the Israelites were filled with visions of the Promised Land. What a home it would be! Freedom … elbow room … and what was it God had said? A land “flowing with milk and honey”? It sounded too good to be true.
Thoughts of that beautiful country to the north must have filled their imaginations those first mornings as they would break camp, pack up, and wait for the trumpet to signal another day’s march. But just three days into the journey, the Bible tells us they began to murmur and complain.
I can just picture them saying to Moses and Aaron, “Are we there yet? When are we gonna get there? Why is it taking so long?”
They must have made the trip miserable for Moses, who knew they had quite a long way to go. And much like us kids when we were little, they lacked patience and self-control. They despised the long wait and the boredom of plodding along at what they felt was a very slow pace.
Could it be the same for you and me when we think about heaven, our Promised Land? Does the bright picture of our future Home make us bored and unsatisfied with our lot down here on earth? Do we impatiently think to ourselves, When are we ever going to get there? Why is it taking so long? In our lack of perseverance and discipline, do we complain about what seems to be a long wait?
Let’s not be like spoiled children. And let’s certainly not be like those grumblers in the desert who brought distress to their leaders and grief and anger to their God.
No, the very idea of a Promised Land to come, of heaven yet to be, should fill our hearts with joy and inspire us onward in the journey with strength and real patience.
Are we there yet?
No, not yet. Not quite. But every day brings us closer.
When are we going to get there?
In His time. At the best time. Perhaps sooner than we would expect.
Why is it taking so long?
Our loving God must want us Home more than we want to be Home. Yet there is work to do, people to reach, and a Savior to follow down the winding road of days and years.
When we finally turn into heaven’s driveway and see Him waiting at the open door, the long drive won’t seem so long at all.