learning from Moses

I like to know the end of movies and sometimes books. It's freeing to me. I tend to get very attached to characters and when things don't turn out the way I think they will or should I get emotional. The Rev can attest to this. He is amazed at the tears that some movies can bring forth. Like, "In Bruges". If you've seen it you're wondering how it could have brought me to tears. I just got really attached to his mentor friend and was crushed when he died (sorry if that was a spoiler for you.) I promise there's a connection to Moses here. I just finished up Deuteronomy. I don't think I'm spoiling anything for you when I tell you that Moses dies at the end. That wasn't the hard part. The hard part is when the Lord forbids his entry to the Promised Land. I mean, Moses has been faithfully leading the insolent Israelites through the wilderness for 40 years and then this. Of course he is distraught and pleads with God.

Deut. 3:23 “And I pleaded with the Lord at that time, saying, 24 ‘O Lord God, you have only begun to show your servant your greatness and your mighty hand. For what god is there in heaven or on earth who can do such works and mighty acts as yours? 25 Please let me go over and see the good land beyond the Jordan, that good hill country and Lebanon.’ 

And here's God's response:
26 But the Lord was angry with me because of you [the Israelites] and would not listen to me. And the Lord said to me, ‘Enough from you; do not speak to me of this matter again. 27 Go up to the top of Pisgah and lift up your eyes westward and northward and southward and eastward, and look at it with your eyes, for you shall not go over this Jordan. 28 But charge Joshua, and encourage and strengthen him, for he shall go over at the head of this people, and he shall put them in possession of the land that you shall see.’

God pretty much tells him to stop whining about it, makes him look at everything that he won't be a part of and then finishes by telling him Joshua will actually lead the people into the Promised Land and he should be encouraging to him. I mean, seriously? I cannot imagine being Moses at this point. True, Moses had done his fair share of grumbling like the Israelites, but enough to warrant this?? I was angry for Moses as I was reading. If I was him I think I'd just chuck it all at this point, but Moses doesn't. He continues to faithfully serve the Lord. He does exactly what he was commanded. He prepares Joshua and the people of Israel for entry into the Promised Land, knowing full well that he won't be there. He continues to praise the Lord to the people and proclaim how just He is. 

Deut. 32:3 "For I will proclaim the name of the Lord;ascribe greatness to our God! 4 The Rock, his work is perfect, for all his ways are justice. A God of faithfulness and without iniquity, just and upright is he."

I may not like the way this story ends, but I don't have to. Moses doesn't need me to defend him. I'm sure he was bummed, but after God told him not to speak of it again, he didn't. He pressed forward and lived up to his calling. I'm not so confident that I would react the same way. There have definitely been times in my life that God didn't give me things that I wanted and my response was nothing like Moses'. Instead, I tried to convince God that I deserved his blessings because of all of my hard work and my faithfulness to him. How many times have I envied what another person has and thought to myself, "Seriously, God? I've done everything right. I work hard to follow you and that person gets it?!" My prayer is that I can live with the confidence and faith of Moses and follow the Lord with obedience not with the aim of getting what I want, but to know and glorify Him more fully.