“And Moses, the servant of the Lord, died there in Moab as the Lord said.” (Deuteronomy 34:5 NIV)
Dying in the desert on the edge of your dream seems like bad thing, doesn’t it? But if we dig a little deeper, we are encouraged by the man who lived out God’s plan to the very end. It’s a personal goal of mine, to die satisfied in Christ, having lived out God’s will larger than my own. We see no kickback from Moses, no grumble or complaint sullies his narrative. He just climbed the last incline of his life obediently and died with full confidence in God’s story.
“Moses was a hundred and twenty years old when he died yet his eyes were not weak nor his strength gone.” (Deuteronomy 34:7 NIV)
There was still fight left in Moses’ bones. I mean, he climbed a mountain to die. What eighty year old do you know that can still climb mountains, let alone live to a hundred and twenty years of age and then go for a straight-up hike? Moses was still strong and able and eager to obey God, even unto death.
“Since then, no prophet has risen in Israel like Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face, who did all those signs and wonders the Lord sent him to do in Egypt, to Pharaoh and to all’s officials and to his whole land. For no one has ever shown the mighty power or performed the awesome deeds the Moses did in the sight of all Israel.” (Deuteronomy 34:10-12 NIV)
Perhaps in today’s culture of movie magic and special effects these great and terrible miracles of the Old testament don’t hold our attention as they should. We’ve grown desensitized to the fantastic because our brains register it as fiction. The miracles of Moses happened. The river turned to blood, the sun blotted out, the firstborn died (historians believe that as many as 40-50% of the population could have been firstborn). Pharaoh acquiesced and the Red Sea parted; I’m not sure which feat was more fantastic. Imagine it. Slide your twenty-first century feet into some ancient sandals and walk across the dry seabed with a couple million other believers. Look up and marvel at walls of water held up by God’s breath alone. Feel the rumble of six hundred Egyptian chariots racing toward you and then turn and watch them wash away.
This is how God used Moses, and while there have been many miracles since then, the Bible tells us there will never be another Moses. The scale and magnitude of his miracles are entirely unique to his story.
The question begs to be asked, why Moses? What made him so special? Was he simply a random man or was he hand-selected and molded by divinely-directed circumstance? Picking apart the pieces of Moses’ life and minisity, I see six qualities that contribute to his exceptional relationship with God.
Maturity. We tend to forget that Moses was eighty when he witnessed the burning bush. He had a lot of miles on his tires at that point: forty years in Egypt as a prince plus forty years in Midian as a pauper. He was uniquely fitted for leadership because he had lived as filthy rich and depressingly poor. He had a tremendous amount of life experience packed into his eighty years.
Humility. Nothing humbles a man quite like public failure. Moses had known great power as a young person, but fallen far from glory when he committed a crime of passion for his newly-discovered personal heritage. He spend four decades in exile before he heard from God. That’s a lot of down time for soul-searching.
Wisdom. Moses had experienced the best of both worlds. He had a formal education growing up in Egypt, likely the best tutors money could buy. But he earned real life experience in Midian, shepherding on lonely hillsides and living in authentic community with his adoptive family.
Spiritually Sensitive. Moses stopped to see the burning bush when others may have brushed past it. He heard the voice of God and obeyed, despite his own reluctance. Over and over, we read of Moses repeating God’s specific instructions to His people. When God spoke: from faint whisper all the way to angry shout, Moses paid attention.
Deep Devotion. We typically define love as deep affection plus strong commitment. Moses expresses each of these: to God and others. His dedication is unwavering, despite ongoing challenges and varied reciprocation.
God rewarded these hard-won qualities in Moses with powerful presence plus profound experiences. At the same time, we see that Moses’ story was not easy or typical. But bad and hard are not the same, sometimes tough is the essential ingredient for great.
“Hard and good are not mutually exclusive… things can be very hard and very good at the same time.” (Katherine Wolf)
Somehow Moses knew this. He opted to step out of his own favor and privilege to better relate to his own people and eventually God used him to lead them somewhere far better.
“By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be known as the son of Pharaoh’s daughter. He choose to be mistreated along with the people of God rather than enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin. He regarded disgrace for the sake of Christ as of greater value than the treasures of Egypt, because he was looking ahead to his reward.” (Hebrews 11:24-26 NIV)
Eternal perspective. It may be the last and most crucial element of Moses’ character. He was somehow able to see past both the gilded palace and the pain of enslavement. He pushed through the mundane of daily life in Midian, he painstakingly searched for God in his story. He stood against Pharaoh and walked his people into freedom, always with his eyes on the bigger picture. He patiently endured the consequence of the sin of his charges and solemnly accepted the punishment for his own mistep. He died still strong, all the while consumed with the thought of a Place far more real than the Promised Land that laid just outside of his reach. Moses kept his heart fixed on God’s agenda no matter what was happening in the here and now.
You and I will never in this life experience the level of intimacy that Moses had with God – to speak with Him as one man to another? But perhaps if we lean into Moses’ extraordinary character traits, we’ll participate in God’s presence more deeply? Attuning to His plans will have a direct affect on our future, don’t you think?
Lord, we’ve learned so much from Moses, it’s hard to leave him here, dying on the border of his dream. May we meet his eyeline, and see his sights were set much higher than his own story. Lift our perspective, Lord. Set our hearts on things above. Cultivate these character traits in us – maturity, humility, wisdom, spiritual sensitivity and deep devotion. We want to scooch closer to You. Align our lives with Your will and save our seat in heaven, we’re intent on Your reward. Amen.