INSTITUTIONALIZED

Numbers 14: 1 – 10


3 Why is the LORD bringing us to this land only to let us fall by the sword? Our wives and children will be taken as plunder. Wouldn’t it be better for us to go back to Egypt?"

When I used to work in the prison system, I was amazed at a condition called institutionalization. This is a condition in which a person gets so used to the life in jail, that they can't face the freedom of life on the outside.
Life in the confinement of a prison cell may seem unacceptable to us, to many prisoners, it's the only life they know. Jail becomes a place where they know they can feel safe.
As a result, when a prisoners sentence is coming to an end, they will commit a crime in prison so that they won't have to leave, or when he is released, he may spend a couple of days with family and friends, only to act out in fear to find a way back to the only way of life that he knows.
It really doesn't matter how good the situation is, or how comfortable the life, when things get a little hard, all a prisoner can think of is returning to captivity.

1 That night all the people of the community raised their voices and wept aloud.
2 All the Israelites grumbled against Moses and Aaron, and the whole assembly said to them, "If only we had died in Egypt! Or in this desert!
4 And they said to each other, "We should choose a leader and go back to Egypt."

The only life the Israelites knew was one of enslavement and captivity.
We read in the Bible about the people grumbling about the freedom that God was giving them and wonder why they would want to return to the place where they lived in confinement.
Given the light of institutionalization, we can now see why they were afraid to follow Moses into the promised land. It really didn't matter what they would face there, they were afraid.
I think that's why God led them around the desert for so many years. The generation that grew up in the desert had no fear of freedom, and would willingly enter the land flowing with milk and honey.

6 Joshua son of Nun and Caleb son of Jephunneh, who were among those who had explored the land, tore their clothes
7 and said to the entire Israelite assembly, "The land we passed through and explored is exceedingly good.
8 If the LORD is pleased with us, he will lead us into that land, a land flowing with milk and honey, and will give it to us.
9 Only do not rebel against the LORD. And do not be afraid of the people of the land, because we will swallow them up. Their protection is gone, but the LORD is with us. Do not be afraid of them."

The question for us is, “Are we institutionalized?
We cannot be afraid of the freedom, and the life beyond what we know, just to stay in our life of confinement, the oft' spoken of “comfort zone.”
we all need to be like Joshua and Caleb and be so excited about the prospect of heaven, that we go to any extent to tell the masses how wonderful it will be when we arrive there.
Don't let people you know return to Egypt.