Deuteronomy 3:21-29 (NIV)
Moses Forbidden to Cross the Jordan
21 At that time I commanded Joshua: “You have seen with your own eyes all that the Lord your God has done to these two kings. The Lord will do the same to all the kingdoms over there where you are going. 22 Do not be afraid of them; the Lord your God himself will fight for you.”
23 At that time I pleaded with the Lord: 24 “Sovereign Lord, you have begun to show to your servant your greatness and your strong hand. For what god is there in heaven or on earth who can do the deeds and mighty works you do? 25 Let me go over and see the good land beyond the Jordan—that fine hill country and Lebanon.”
26 But because of you the Lord was angry with me and would not listen to me. “That is enough,” the Lord said. “Do not speak to me anymore about this matter. 27 Go up to the top of Pisgah and look west and north and south and east. Look at the land with your own eyes, since you are not going to cross this Jordan. 28 But commission Joshua, and encourage and strengthen him, for he will lead this people across and will cause them to inherit the land that you will see.” 29 So we stayed in the valley near Beth Peor.
At Lifespring we are on a journey to Making Every Effort to grow in Maturity. When I was reading Deuteronomy 3, I was challenged with the question to what extent will I Make Every Effort to grow in Maturity. In Deuteronomy Moses is giving us the detailed journey of him and the Israelites, recalling all the things that led up to his people entering the promise land. In this particular chapter I noticed the conversation between Moses and God that would cause most people to stop, give up, or even disobey God.
Imagine being called out of Egypt to lead the Israelites for about 40 years into a promise land to then finding out near the end of your journey that you won’t be going with them. I can only imagine the frustration, anger and bitterness Moses must be feeling. I mean He literally pleaded with the Lord to let him go over and see the land that was promised. He said all the nice words, gave God all the best compliments but nothing worked. Moses even blames the people for his actions and for the reason why God was angry at him and wouldn’t listen to him.
But even with all that said and after God’s harsh response to his pleading, Moses still obeyed God. He was told that he could look at the land but not enter it. He was given further instructions to commission Joshua, to encourage him and strengthen him because Joshua will be leading the people into the promise land. Does that not sound like a shot to the gut? I mean not only does Moses not get to enter into the promise land but he has to bless someone else to go and lead the people into the land that He was supposed to take them. He had to encourage Joshua and strengthen him, talk about humility. If you had any pride in you, this would definitely kill it.
Imagine you were promised a promotion and for some reason you weren’t able to follow through on everything you needed to do so your boss decides to give the promotion to a younger employee. Not only is he being promoted but he’s going to take your position and you have to train him to be able to take over. What would you do in that situation?
You see many of us are willing to Make Every Effort when we know that there is a reward on the other side but what if the reward you are seeking isn’t the reward God has for you. What happens when you are faced with disappointment? When things don’t go the way you might have planned it? Is your obedience dependent on something or is it out of reverence for God?
The world would tell us to call it quits, to sabotage the other guy, to be mad and stay mad cause you have every right to be. But what God calls us to do is Make Every Effort to grow in Maturity. To humble ourselves, to put God’s needs and agenda over our own, to follow through on the things God has instructed you to do regardless of the circumstance and to obey God because your relationship with Him is more valuable than any position the world can give.
Moses wasn’t able to enter the promise land because of his disobedience to God, yet he had the maturity to follow through on the Lords commands for His people. He still chose to obey the rest of God’s commands even though he wouldn’t get to lead His people into the promise land or even enter it himself. With feelings of anger and what some might say is resentment, Moses still cared for God’s people. The care was seen in his obedience till the end. His obedience would ensure that the Israelites were led and cared for by Joshua, who would be commissioned, encouraged and strengthened by him. Moses relationship with God was more important than the destination. Even if Moses didn’t get his way, he still chose to follow God because of all that He had done for him and His people.
Prayer:
Father, I pray as we Make Every Effort to grow in Maturity, give us the power and strength to stay obedient to you. Help us to continue to Make Every Effort regardless of the circumstances, regardless of the promises or rewards we may think we deserve. God let us be a people who remain obedient to you because we are hopelessly in love with you. Let us grow in our fear of you God and remain faithful to your instructions because nothing in this world can satisfy our hearts. We pray this in Jesus’ name, Amen!