GPS Guide – May 15, 2019
FAITHFULNESS
Wednesday
Read: Deuteronomy 3:23-28, 34:1-5
“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.” (NIV Deuteronomy 3:23-28)
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.” 5 And Moses the servant of the Lord died there in Moab, as the Lord had said.” (Deuteronomy 34:1-5)
Study: At least from the time of the burning bush, which we read about yesterday, Moses had a God-given dream: living in the Promised Land. The Scriptures seem to offer various reasons why God didn’t allow that. But before Moses’ earthly life ended, God did give his faithful servant a panoramic view of the place he’d hoped and dreamed of. It seems likely that the extraordinary vision of the Promised Land’s beauty was the last thing Moses saw before he died. Recalling Moses’ amazing life, Deuteronomy said, “Moses knew the LORD face-to-face!” (Deuteronomy 34:10) Yet even that faithful life did not mean God automatically granted his request in Deuteronomy 3. If Moses couldn’t guarantee that he’d receive whatever he asked for in prayer, why should you continue to pray? When has prayer changed you, instead of your circumstances, for the better?
Pray: Lord Jesus, thank you for the gift of life. Grow in me a heart committed to serving you faithfully all the days of my earthly life—and all the days of the eternal life you’ve promised me. Amen.