A Lap of the Sinai
Israel trekked a disobedient four decade lap of the Sinai Peninsula. They did not have to.
We all share in the good moments of honor and the hours of shame from disobedience. Even after repentance shame can still hover. It 'strangles' the confessor with a sulfuric stench of relentless accusation.
... For the accuser ... who accuses ... before our God day and night has been hurled down (to earth). (Revelation 12:10b)
Careening in murmur and complaint, marching around the Sinai desert, God saw His people's perennial recalcitrance.
Yet, disobedience need not be fatal. The grumbling Israelites were given a generous time to repent while doing 'circle work' on the Sinai Peninsula.
Gazing across to the promised land, soon to enter a flooding Jordan, God promised His next generation:
When you and your children return to the Lord your God and obey him with all your heart and with all your soul according to everything I command you today, then the Lord your God will restore your fortunes and have compassion on you and gather you again from all the nations where he scattered you. Even if you have been banished to the most distant land under the heavens, from there the Lord your God will gather you and bring you back. (Deuteronomy 30:2-4)
The Last Word:
God's gifts and His call are irrevocable. (Romans 11:29)