Unfulfilled Dreams

I wonder what it was like for Moses when he climbed Mt Nebo at the end of his life, and the Lord showed him the whole of the Promised Land (Deut. 34)? He was 120 years old, yet his eyes were not weak nor his strength gone (v7). He could have led the people in, but God forbade it, and he died there.

Was seeing the Land from afar the only compensation Moses would receive for enduring the living nightmare of leading over 600 000 grumbling, rebellious men and their families through one of the most inhospitable regions of the world? Believe me; the last 40 years of His life were not easy for Moses. On one occasion he asked the LORD:

"Why have you brought this trouble on your servant? What have I done to displease you that you put the burden of all these people on me? Did I conceive all these people? Did I give them birth? Why do you tell me to carry them in my arms, as a nurse carries an infant, to the land you promised on oath to their forefathers? ...'I cannot carry all these people by myself; the burden is too heavy for me. If this is how you are going to treat me, put me to death right now-if I have found favour in your eyes-and do not let me face my own ruin." (Num 11:11-15)

Emotional melt-down was no stranger to Moses. “Put me to death right now”, he groaned. Yes, Moses endured more than you could ever imagine. Yet he was granted a mere glimpse of the Promised Land from afar. Despite pleading with God (Deut 3:23-25), He was not even permitted to dip so much as a toe into the Jordan River.

But here is the nub of the matter: Moses would have made it into the Promised Land if the people had not pushed him to the limit (Num. 20:9-13). In fact, Moses blamed the ban on the peoples’ sin (Deut. 1:37). It is not that Moses did not sin at Meribah, but without the peoples’ grumbling and rebellion, the temptation would never have arisen.

All of this could have embittered Moses. The people he led gave him an incredibly hard time. You and I get bitter over far smaller wrongs. Yet Moses continued to serve the people selflessly and without bitterness until the end.

Take the following as evidence of Moses’ lack of bitterness (Num. 14): when the Twelve Spies returned from the Promised Land, Moses, Caleb and Joshua were all for invading Canaan. But the other spies spread alarm and despondency. So Israel rebelled against God accusing Him of being weak and malicious. They were convinced that God had brought them out of Egypt so that their women and children could be carried away as slaves.

When the Lord met with Moses to discuss the situation, God said that He would destroy Israel and begin again with Moses. God actually offered Moses the opportunity to become the progenitor of a nation greater and stronger than Abraham’s. Imagine the temptation. A bitter man would have yielded. But Moses had found the antidote to bitterness; it was concern for the glory of God. The nations were watching, he told God. What would they deduce about God if He slaughtered His people in the desert? They would assume that God did not have the power to keep His promises and had committed genocide to hide that truth. Therefore, Moses implored God to forgive Israel.

If Moses had not forgiven Israel, he would never have asked God to. But Moses was a forgiver because he knew God as a forgiver, so he contended for the glory of God expressed as mercy. It seems to me that the perfections of God’s character and the all-satisfying pleasures of relating to Him became Moses’ delight. If you doubt this, read the words of the hymn Moses wrote on the day of his death (Deut. 33).

So might it be that as Moses faced death and an unfulfilled dream he saw something far more satisfying than the Promised Land? Maybe, in the distant haze of the western sea, he saw the far green shores of heaven and his Father beckoning. Maybe like Paul he said, “If I am to go on living in the body, this will mean fruitful labour for me. Yet what shall I chose?” I am sure that for Moses to die was gain, as I hope it will be for all of us on the day when our work is done.

Cheers for now - Ian