Deuteronomy 34:1-4, 7 (NIV) 1 Then Moses climbed Mount Nebo from the plains of Moab to
the top of Pisgah, across from Jericho. There the LORD showed him the whole
land—from Gilead to Dan, 2 all of Naphtali, the territory of Ephraim
and Manasseh, all the land of Judah as far as the Mediterranean Sea, 3
the Negev and the whole region from the Valley of Jericho, the City of Palms,
as far as Zoar. 4 Then the LORD said to him, “This is the land I
promised on oath to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob when I said, ‘I will give it to
your descendants.’ I have let you see it with your eyes, but you will not cross
over into it.” 7
Moses was a hundred and twenty years old when he died, yet his eyes were not
weak nor his strength gone.
II Corinthians 4:16-18 (NIV) 16
Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet
inwardly we are being renewed day by day. 17 For our light and
momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs
them all. 18 So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is
unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.
“Moses, Moses.” This time the call is not heard
from a burning bush. It comes from a deep yearning, and a man aged in years and
older in wisdom begins a last journey to the top of Mt. Pisgah where God completes
His commitment to Moses. It is as if God has taken a parent and lifted him or
her above the limitations of time and shown the future that their children will
enjoy, and it is very good. Then, with the glory of God in his heart, the life
of Moses and God’s plan for him come to an end.
Moses had aged like everyone else. He experienced
the limitations that age often puts upon us. Yet, there was something
apparently special about Moses both in old age and in death. “His eyes were not
weak,” meaning something like “he was still a man of vision. He still viewed
life with the eyes of faith.” The vision of faith ignited in the burning bush
still shone brightly in the eyes of Moses.
It is possible for that to be said of us, as well,
and it happens this way: we receive from God. We receive His spirit and His
life, from His word and His people. We receive God in times of quiet and of
prayer. And what we receive is the raw material out of which He fashions our
life. We receive the right stuff.
His sovereignty, His commitment to us, is a shaping
force always at work in the midst of the events and experiences of our life.
Sometimes that shaping makes us swell with joy and sometimes we bristle with
resistance. But, as God has given us the right stuff in the life of His Son, so
He intends to shape us according to His will. As we prepare to receive the raw
material with which God will work in our lives, the bottom line questions is
this: “do I want God to have His way with my life?”
From a sermon preached by Henry Dobbs Pope February
9, 1986
© Rhonda Hinkle Mitchell
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