All the commandments which I command thee this day shall ye observe to do, that ye may live, and multiply, and go in and possess the land which the Lord sware unto your fathers. And thou shalt remember all the way which the Lord thy God led thee these forty years in the wilderness, to humble thee, and to prove thee, to know what was in thine heart, whether thou wouldest keep his commandments, or no. And he humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers know; that he might make thee know that man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the Lord doth man live. Thy raiment waxed not old upon thee, neither did thy foot swell, these forty years. Thou shalt also consider in thine heart, that, as a man chasteneth his son, so the Lord thy God chasteneth thee. Therefore thou shalt keep the commandments of the Lord thy God, to walk in his ways, and to fear him.
Deuteronomy 8:1-6
Distances are measured differently in the journey of faith. Times are not necessarily measured by sunset and sunrise. The clock that calculates the faith journey does not hang on the wall of a building but on the wall of the heart. How long it takes a human heart to respond to the love of God, how long it takes a particular heart to realize itself and abhor iniquity and turn to God? How long it takes a person to learn one Bible truth? It took Israel forty years in the wilderness to learn that man does not live by bread alone but by every word that comes out of the mouth of God. Thirty years of learning, thirty years of inner transformation, and developing confidence in God and His word.