Shoes That Didn’t Wear Out

The Story

Forty years after leaving Egypt, Israel stood on the edge of the Promised Land. Moses was an old man now, and he knew he wouldn’t be going in with them. So he gathered the people and reminded them of everything God had done.

Remember the wilderness, he told them. God let you go hungry, and then He “fed thee with manna, which thou knewest not.” He wanted you to learn “that man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the LORD.”

And then Moses pointed out something so ordinary they may never have noticed it. For forty years, walking through desert sand and rock, “Thy raiment waxed not old upon thee, neither did thy foot swell.” Later he added that their shoes hadn’t worn out either.

Forty years. The same clothes. The same sandals. Children had grown up and old people had died, and through it all God had quietly kept their clothes from falling apart.

Moses warned them: when you get into the good land and have full houses and full barns, don’t forget. “Thou shalt remember the LORD thy God: for it is he that giveth thee power to get wealth.”

Reflection