It's a powerful place, but there's a tinge of sadness about it, for there's an arrow pointing vaguely in the direction of the valley and saying, "Moses was buried here." The truth is that nobody knows where Moses was buried, for he was said to be buried by God himself. So we can only assume that when his death was near, Moses wandered off by himself to die, as many animals do to this day.
Perhaps the most poignant part of the story of Moses is its ending. Moses struggled and suffered to follow God's guidance and to bring the people to the Promised Land, but just when the end is in sight, God refuses to allow Moses to enter this new land flowing with milk and honey. Why? It seems so unfair after all the toil and tribulation. Surely God could have allowed Moses just a little time to enjoy the fruits of his labours.
The reason given sounds very trivial. According to the account in the book of Numbers (12:1-13), Moses' sin was a lack of faith. When the people complained bitterly, as they so often did, this time about a lack of water, Moses and Aaron prayed to God for a solution. God told Moses to take his staff and command water to come from the rock. Moses did as he was bid, but perhaps to add a little drama to the occasion, instead of simply commanding water to flow, he struck the rock twice with his staff. The Bible descirbes it like this:
Moses took the staff from before the Lord, as he had commanded him. Moses and Aaron gathered the assembly together before the rock, and he said to them, "Listen, you rebels, shall we bring water for you out of this rock?" Then Moses lifted up his hand and struck the rock twice with his staff; water came out abundantly, and the congregation and their livestock drank. But the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, "Because you did not trust in me, to show my holiness before the eyes of the Israelites, therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land that I have given them." (Number 12:9-12)
The Bible goes on to say, "These are the waters of Meribah, where
the people of Israel quarreled with the Lord, and by which he showed his
holiness." And these wells can still be seen today in Egypt, where they are a
Bedouin site.
To deny Moses the opportunity even to set foot in the Promised
Land seems a harsh punishment for such a minor infringement of God's word. But
perhaps it was all to the good in the long run, for when the Israelites crossed
into the Promised Land, they were only able to enter and settle there after
numerous wars and battles and bloodshed. Although we're told that Moses at the
age of 120 had unimpaired sight and unabated vigour (lucky man), perhaps it
would have brought him untold sadness to have to endure such violence at so
late a stage in his life.
When my father died, my mother was devastated and went through all
the stages of grief and bereavement, including asking "Why have you done this
terrible thing to me, God?" But some years later, when she was becoming very
frail and hardly able to manage herself, she was able to say to me, "I think
perhaps it was just as well your father died when he did. I would never have
been able to look after him."
We don't know what God has in mind for us when life seems
particularly harsh and unfair. We often rail against God, but if we were able
to glimpse the future perhaps we would be able to say, "Ah! Now I understand,
and actually, I find that I'm grateful."
It's also true that in our Christian life we often fail to see the
results of our work. It takes years to "grow" Christians and perhaps many of us
are at the stage of just sowing seeds. We may never see new Christians or a
full church as a result of our work, but perhaps other people in other areas
will reap our harvest. A kind word and a gentle touch may do more than we
realize to bring people to Christ, but they may be brought eventually by
others.
At the same time, we reap the harvest of other people's seeds.
When new people come to Christ or enter our churches, we may only have applied
the final sickle to a harvest that was already ripe. Other people are likely to
have sown the seeds many years ago and many miles away. On these occasions we
are the reapers.
We all have Moses-like experiences in our lives, when we fail to
enjoy the final fruits of our labours. But we need to remember that everything
is in God's hands. Whatever happens, God is holding us and guiding us in the
best possible way for us. So like Moses, let's hold the faith and be
thankful.
