When I look back on my life there are a few times I can say I have been filled with some regret and some longing for what could have been. As a very young man I was inspired to be in full time ministry, something that took me over the Pacific into the southern hemisphere and almost 2 years of intense mission work. I was convinced for many years after, when I was unable to continue to work in the ministry, that I was missing out on something the Lord had for me. Time has proven that longing was short sighted and I am more content than I ever could imagine with the life the Heavenly Father has provided for me. Those days of longing, however, do allow me to empathize with parts of the Bible, so while I was in this week’s reading I came across the passage of Moses not getting into the Promised Land.
At that time I pleaded with the Lord: “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? Let me go over and see the good land beyond the Jordan—that fine hill country and Lebanon.”
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. 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. 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.” So we stayed in the valley near Beth Peor. Deuteronomy 3: 23-29
To think that it was a single sin in the desert that condemned him to not see the fulfillment of the promise in his lifetime. I imagine that even one of the greatest heroes of faith found it difficult at times to understand the bigger picture of what God was doing. So often we look at this life as all that there is, but God knows infinitely more than we do. While Moses did not get to see the Promised Land he did get to see the Promised One, and it is clear that he knew Jesus since He is seen speaking to Moses during his life on earth.
After six days Jesus took with him Peter, James and John the brother of James, and led them up a high mountain by themselves. There he was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and his clothes became as white as the light. Just then there appeared before them Moses and Elijah, talking with Jesus. Matthew 17: 1-3
What a reminder, that in times of longing and feelings of regret, what seems like the loss of a promise may actually be the acceleration of a bigger promise. I’m sure that there are many reasons why God chose to prevent Moses from moving across the river and, while in his corporeal state, he must have had questions. What an amazing moment it must have been, when after leaving this world, he got to talk to Jesus face to face and get the answers from the source.
– Jeff Gilbert