who have "passed on". It can be sobering to realize that we, too, will one day "be gathered to (our) people".
The realization of death--our own death, has the potential for humbling us and making us aware that a job, our family, or life in general will go on without us. This is not something we want to consider. Moses realized in Deuteronomy 31, that he was at the end of his life. "I am one hundred and twenty years old today. I can no longer go out and come in" (verse 2). I, myself, am less than four short years from attaining the 70 year life span that God says we are allotted on average (Psalm 90:10). There are things I am physically unable to do any more (things you would probably laugh at unless you are my age). I am not "grieved" just yet, however I think I can understand a little about how Moses must have felt as he realized he was as close to the Promised Land as he was ever going to come. My Dad lived to be almost 95, and I know there were things he really wanted to do, but was physically unable. This was not easy for him to accept.
I wonder if Moses had tears in his eyes as he gave his final instructions to the nation of Israel and prepared Joshua to lead. During times when we see we are going no farther, there's no doubt a tendency to become self-centered and feel sorry for ourselves. Our scriptures today offer much wisdom for this time in our lives. Without God's direction, Moses may have had "a break down" at this point. The song God gave Moses for Israel, no doubt also served to help Moses focus on God's love as the end of his life was in view. It doesn't seem Moses was feeling sorry for himself although this was surely a sad time for him. (We all basically share the same physical, intellectual, and emotional make up, whether we live now or lived a thousand years ago. We all think alike in some basic areas and this can be deduced from historic figures in the Bible.) Moses desired in his heart for Israel to know and love God. "Gather the people together, men and women and little ones, and the stranger who is within your gates, that they may hear and that they may learn to fear the Lord your God and carefully observe all the words of this law" (verses 12-13).
Joshua's inauguration as Moses' replacement had to be a bittersweet milestone for Moses. God, our Provider, saw fit to give Moses this song for Israel that was actually a prediction of their future in the Promised Land. Moses was busy finishing what God had instructed him to do. He completed the writing of God's law in a book and entrusted this Book of the Law to the Levites to place in the Ark of the Covenant. God told him it would serve as a witness against Israel. Moses knew the people's hearts. He knew they would continue in rebellion and stubbornness even after they mourned his passing. He warned them that carefully observing God's law was "not a futile thing for you, because it is your life" (Deut. 32:47).
The song gave to Moses for Israel is recorded in Deut. 32: 1-43. In essence, God says that regardless of our failure, He and His love for us will always remain the same. "Greatness" can always--at any point, be "ascribed" to our God. He has no end of days as Moses and as we have. He is always just. He is without injustice! He is perfect. He will always remain "A God of truth". We are blemished and corrupt. We fail to recognize we are His children. All generations could no doubt fall under the category of "perverse and crooked" (Jesus referred to the generation of His time as "faithless and perverse" in Matthew and Luke (KJV). We are foolish and unwise to reject the idea that God is our Father, that He bought us, made us, and establishes us! We can trace what God has accomplished all the way back to Adam. Oh, that we could see God's love for us--that "the Lord's portion is His people" (Deut. 32:9). God's care over His people has been astounding and continues to be so (then, it was Israel; now it is those washed in His blood). He says He is to us "As an eagle stirs up its nest, hovers over its young, spreading out its wings, taking them up, carrying them on its wings" (verses 11-12), so the Lord leads us even in our generation.
This is an indepth song that God gave to Israel. Moses must have been blessed by this review of Israel's history and God's journey with them every step of the way. As I live out the remainder of my life, I pray God will help me live each day without regrets. May I treasure the past--even the hard lessons I insisted upon learning and could evidently have learned no other way--and see that God has been with me every step of my way, also. The song ends with God's promise to "avenge the blood of His servants, and render vengeance to His adversaries; He will provide atonement for His land and His people" (Deut. 32:43). God never gives up on us! He knows that we are dust (Psalm 103:14) and has made provision for us even in this--perhaps especially in this. Philippians 1:6, assures us that,"Being confident of this very thing, that he which has begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ"!
I have seen many in my family come to the end of their lives--all my grandparents, my father, my mother. I know I will go the way they have gone. Maybe God provides some comfort for us even in this (If they can do it, so can I). He told Moses he was going up the mountain to die, "and be gathered to your people, just as Aaron your brother died on Mount Hor and was gathered to his people". God allowed Moses to at least "see the land before you, though you shall not go there" (verse 52). It is so rewarding to know God! We cannot go back at the end of our lives and fix things. But at any point before we die, we can begin a new life in Christ by believing on Him. I'm convinced that the only regret we will have by waiting until the end of our lives to do so, will be regretting that we waited so long to begin a relationship with our heavenly Father. Yet, even in this scenario, we can be assured we will be spending eternity getting to know God and enjoying the security His love and His power offers!
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