“Though all the people who came out were circumcised, none of the people born in the wilderness along the way were circumcised after they had come out of Egypt. For the Israelites wandered in the wilderness forty years until all the nation’s men of war who came out of Egypt had died off because they did not obey the Lord. So the Lord vowed never to let them see the land he had sworn to their ancestors to give us, a land flowing with milk and honey.” (v. 5-6)

A lot of us know the story. (Or, at least, we think we do.)

Israel was radically rescued from Egypt by Holy God and His mighty acts. But, on their way to the Promised Land, they grumbled and complained and even rebelled. So God judged them, and an entire generation was made to wander until they passed away. It would be forty years before Israel’s sons would inherit their home.

That’s a pretty good Sunday School retelling.

But it’s not the whole picture.

You see, when Joshua leads that generation into Canaan, we get a new detail: Israel’s sons, born in the desert, haven’t been circumcised.

(And, no, I didn’t really want to talk about circumcision either.)

The very sign of the Covenant—the ritualistic marking that shows a people’s submission to the God who chose them—has been abandoned, or at least overlooked. The pattern for right worship has been lost in the wilderness. God’s people had done more than mere grumbling: they had neglected the faithful upbringing of their children and had failed to obey God’s commands.

Turns out, you don’t have to vocally and overtly complain about God to miss His way. Casual negligence of right worship—skipping the things that seem inconvenient or culturally irrelevant—sets you outside His will. By grace, He welcomed Israel back in.

Since His grace has come to you, how do you need to turn around?