HIS WORD STANDS!

  I come to chapter 34 of Deuteronomy and Moses has climbed Mount Nebo.  The mount is about 2,680 to 3,300 feet high from the two records I observed.  Moses is only 120 years old (!!!), he has climbed a mountain knowing full well a.  He was going to die on the mountain and b. He would only be able to see the Promised Land from that vantage point.  c. He and Aaron had been disobedient as leaders and before the hoard of Israelites watching, so God refused Moses' entrance to the land.  Regardless of what you and I deem as just or unjust about the decision, God has maintained His word to Moses. I am reminded that there is a strict accountability from God for the one who chooses to be leader. It seems that the greater the audience of those being led; the greater the accountability of God on the leader.

I am amazed that Moses climbed the mountain to die...some of us would have died trying to climb the mountain, but perhaps the desire to SEE the Promised Land drove him to climb.  Scripture says "his eyes were not weak nor his strength gone".  We are not told how long Moses was on the mountain looking over the plains of Moab.  Don't you wonder what thoughts he would have had.  In the picture above, you may see some of the land that Moses may have seen.  It is just a casual sentence: "He buried him in Moab, in the valley opposite Beth Peor, but to this day no one knows where his grave is."  God, Himself, conducted the funeral of Moses and even buried him.  How personal is that? How tender the act and yet I wonder what God spoke over Moses as HE buried him?  I wonder how long they talked before Moses died?  Did Moses have all of his anger and disappointment about the decision to only "see" and not enter the Promised Land worked out. I wonder who else observed the funeral? 

Hear God's affirmation of Moses: "no prophet has risen in Israel like Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face, who did all those miraculous sign and wonders the Lord sent him to do in Egypt....For no one has ever shown the mighty power or performed the awesome deeds that Moses did in the sight of all Israel."  Deut. 34:10-12.  That is SOME eulogy. The new commander in chief is Joshua, who will take the Israelites into the Promised Land. 

My take-a-way after reading the chapter:  God's yes is yes and His no is no.  Even as much as He applauded Moses, He maintained the boundary of His Word.  He has given us prescribed boundaries in His Word of what is acceptable to a Holy God and as Christ followers we are under the tutelage of the Holy Spirit to discern right and wrong. We also have the Word of God to read and the Holy Spirit to reveal Truth to us. I am grateful that God's Word does not change even with the battering rams of the cultures' opinions coming against it.  Isaiah said it so well, 40:8, "The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the Word of our God stands forever."  #IHAVETHREESONS

   

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

THOSE SEEING CAN BECOME BLIND

Image
John 9 is the story of the healing of the blind beggar.  Not only is it a marvelous story of the miraculous healing of the man as he is given his sight, but a sad story of the religious of whom Jesus said, "For judgment, I have come into this world, so that the blind will see, and those who see will become blind ." The religious have seen the miracle, even though it has taken place on a Sabbath, and they interview the man and his parents for their stories and understanding. I find it so thrilling that the healed man speaks so articulately and logically with the religious in their "interview" with him.  His statement, " Now that is remarkable!  You don't know where HE comes from, yet HE opened my eyes.  We know that God does not listen to sinners.  He listens to the godly man who does His will.  Nobody has ever heard of opening the eyes of a man born blind. If this man were not from God, He could do nothing." What truth he has spoken to the religious wh
Read more

REHEARSALS

Image
  I wonder how much time do I give to rehearsing God's goodness and how He has intervened in my life to "save" me from myself?  How alike the Israelites I can be, complaining about what goes wrong, how it affects me, and what I lack.  As a Christ follower, I have the Indwelling Holy Spirit to give me remembrance NOT of my complaining and grumbling, but of a recall of God's faithfulness to me.  It is recorded in Psalms 78 and 106 that " They forgot what He had done, the wonder He had shown them", "They did not remember His power--the day He redeemed them from the oppressor...", "They did not remember Your many kindnesses, and they rebelled by the sea, the Red Sea.", "But they soon forgot what He had done and did not wait for His counsel.", and "They forgot the God who saved them, who had done great things in Egypt...". Contrast with me, God's remembrance: Ps. 106:44-46, "But He took note of their distress
Read more

ORDER AND DESIGN

Image
    I do not have OCD, but I do confess that I like order in my home.  Now that I am retired, I am not so much into spotless, but "picked up" and "kinda" clean. (Do not open drawers and closets!) I might go to more trouble when I know I am having company, but otherwise, I remove the clutter that seems to reproduce on its own.   When I began the reading in Genesis in January, I was again taken with the with the orderliness and design of God in creation, and have seen Him use Moses and Aaron to ORDERLY marshal the Israelites to move out of Egypt. How do you move some 600+ males and that is not even wives and children? Animals also?  They have been one year+ out of Egypt, and have been camped at Mt. Sinai where God has given them laws for their spiritual and physical welfare.  God gives Moses the design of the Tabernacle and Moses is able to bring together the workers to complete the Tabernacle.   The clip art at the top is the positioning of the 12 Tribes and the
Read more