Moses recapped what happened in the wilderness 40 yrs prior when God led Israel to Canaan and they refused to go fight and take over the land. When they did decide to finally go and fight, God informed them not to go because He was not with them; however, they still did not listen, fought anyway and lost. Moses told this story of the first generations failure so that the second generation would not repeat it.
How many times has God pricked my heart to do something and I didn’t listen, only to feel some type of pain, and then decide to listen, only to not feel God beside me when I do, and to go through the downs of life afterwards. I am learning to listen when God speaks, and more importantly, learning to decipher God’s voice from my own. It has greatly helped to be able to see – and feel – when I am moving beyond God’s path for me and doing things on my own – things that I want to do, and justifying them with – this is the path that God led me to, only to realize that once I passed His boundary, He is not with me anymore.