When she heard my family was heading back to Germany, my sixth-grade teacher in Morningside Maryland, Mrs. Stahl said to me, “The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence.” She was highly intelligent and very compassionate. Mrs. Stahl knew our one year in the D. C. area, which coincided with the Watergate hearings, had been a hard year for our family, as well as our nation. My family quickly spent through our savings paying the exorbitant rent of $400 per month. Going back to Germany was a sort of escape from the struggles of one of our hardest years.
Every time Israel faced a challenge in the wilderness, they pined for Egypt. “Remember in Egypt where we had meat and leeks and onions,” they would moan, “we sure miss Egypt.” When God delivered them with a mighty hand they had seen it with their own eyes (11:7). But they quickly forgot. Keith Green captured Israel’s national lament with his song, “So you wanna go back to Egypt.” Never mind that they were slaves in Egypt. They would rather be enslaved than depend on God to provide for them in the moment.
Anticipating their next backward shift, Moses honestly tells the Israelites that the promised land is not as fertile as Egypt or the Nile valley where they had once lived. Planting in the rocky soil of the mountains is not like the vegetable gardens of Egypt. So why go into this land? Because God is leading them there. God provides the rain and causes things to grow. Is it better to live in dependence on God, or in slavery with favorite foods?
We, too, can get caught up in destination disease. Our lives can get stuck in reverse. “Anything is better than this,” we may think. Have you noticed as I have, “Where you are, there you are.” Happiness is not ultimately geographical. Each place we go possesses its own sets of challenges. The grass that looks so green may in fact not be grass at all. It might be astroturf. Can we really trust God to provide for ourselves and our families? Do we believe his promises? Do we live in fear or in faith? Like Israel, we live our lives in dependence on God. We have decided to follow Jesus. No turning back.
