A time for everything

Deuteronomy 1.

It was so interesting... As I was reading this, I picked up something about the story of Moses and Israel that I hadn't beforehand. When Moses was leading them into the promised land, the Israelites said that though the land was good, it was inhabited by peoples that they were afraid of and so they did not want to enter the land. This made the Lord "wroth" because of their lack of faith, and he vowed that they would not enter the land. Seeing the Lord's anger, the people "repented," and said they would heed the word of the Lord and go into the land.

But it was no longer the Lord's will that they go into the land. In fact, he told them not to. The time had passed. However, they did, and those that entered were smitten and killed.

It made me realize that at times, there are things that the Lord would have us do, or things that are right for us at a certain time. Yet, if we do not act at the time we are prompted or commanded, the time may pass, and it is no longer right for us to do the thing we believed to be right (and was in fact right - we just delayed too long). This was a very enlightening story - it brought to light something that I'd sensed, but never quite been able to fully grasp as an eternal truth or concept. The scriptures are amazing.