Then the Lord said
to Moses, “Go up to this mountain of Abarim, and see the land which I have
given to the sons of Israel. 13 When you have seen it, you too will
be gathered to your people, as Aaron your brother was; (Numbers 27:12-13
NASB).
The Consequences of
Disobedience
Moses was instructed by the Lord
to go up on the mountain to view the Promised Land. His disobedience at the waters of Meribah in
the wilderness of Zin will disallowed his entrance into Canaan with
Israel. As he looked out across the land
that God had promised to Israel, he must have been tempted to muse on thoughts
of the past. He may have remembered the
grumbling of God’s people and how he had to plead with the Lord not to destroy
them. He could have reminisced on how
Aaron and Miriam resisted his leadership and God’s authority and how he had forgiven
them and prayed for their restoration. There
were so many times that he had put others first to the detriment of himself;
yet now, he will not permitted to cross the Jordan with them. How would you and I have responded to God’s
discipline? Probably not like Moses did.
The Servant Leader
Then Moses spoke to the Lord, saying, 16 “May the Lord, the God
of the spirits of all flesh,
appoint a man over the congregation,
17 who will go out and
come in before them, and who will
lead them out and bring them in, so that the
congregation
of the
Lord will not be like sheep which have no shepherd.”
(Numbers 27:15-17 NASB)
In the midst of what should have been the disappointment
of being excluded from the triumphal entry, we see Moses still focused on
God’s purposes and the good of his people.
He was actively seeking to see the promise fulfilled even though it will
be not be consummated through him, but through his understudy, Joshua. It was not about him, but about God’s designs
and plans.
From that
mountaintop, as Moses gazed out over this good land, in the eye of faith he may
have seen Joshua doing great exploits for God.
Based on his response in verses 16 and 17, Moses must have said in his
heart, thank you Lord because it is not
about me, but You. This is the
expression that must reverberate in the hearts of all servant leaders.
Ken
Barnes, the author of “The Chicken Farm and Other Sacred Places” YWAM Publishing
Email: kenbarnes737@gmail.com
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