Day 4 - Issue 23
Deuteronomy 34:4 NLT
Then the LORD said to Moses, “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 now allowed you to see it with your own eyes, but you will not enter the land.”
I remember being on holiday in the Lake District, climbing a peak with my dad, and being amazed how fit my father had kept himself. Even as he aged, it appeared the climb made little impact upon him. We walked mainly in silence, concentrating on our footing. On summiting, we sat and gazed back over our route that wound its way back down towards a glistening expanse of water. Here we talked, about my choices in Christian ministry, and his disappointment that I had not maximised the opportunities he believed Oxford university had given me. There was no tension, merely a crisp honesty to match the morning air.
There are times when we do well to gaze back. Moses reached just such a point as he considered his life at the border of a land promised, yet never entered. This was as far as God brought him, and God freely told him why. We are all products of our history, yet by God’s grace need not be prisoners to it. However, as we face significant transition points, reflection is healthy.
Moses had battled all his life to lead the people into the Promised Land in obedience to God’s commission. Yet, he was to die just a few metres short. This was no failure, although Moses may have felt it was. Regret and resentment for finishing short of this borderline would have been understandable. Of course, he might also have looked at how he had galvanised and sustained a troublesome people to walk out of slavery, survive the wilderness and grow in friendship and service of God. He had trained and mentored a successor, who would prove worthy of his trust, and God’s.
Moving forward, transitioning well, is acknowledging the regrets, letting go of those things we aspire to that cannot happen, and celebrating those markers that reveal our faithfulness through uncertain and difficult times.
QUESTION: When facing transition, do you focus upon regrets?
PRAYER: Lord, help me to run the race you have set before me and to trust the future to you.
