By James Porch
Moses, now there goes, or comes, a traveling man.
Rambling through the Pentateuch, you repeatedly see him on the road again, again, and again. From Egypt to Midian, to Mt. Horab, back to Egypt, once again out of Egypt, now taking the first steps to shepherd Israel for 40 years plus on a trek toward the Father’s Promised Land.
He, once a saved baby from the Nile, stepping to the cadence marked by Jehovah’s shepherd’s staff, led on learning the troubles and challenges of leadership—all the time facing a far destination nurtured by his faith in his Caller, fully expecting to abide in the promised hope land.
So quite possibly, mindful of the legacy of Abraham’s arduous journey, Moses treks along aware he must focus on his obedience to Jehovah lest his own growing vision of destination overshadow and displace the daily provisions and care of Father God who set Israel free from Egypt.
Cut the old boy some slack. He, humanly speaking, deserved the privilege to habitat in Canaan.
Except! A nasty word always lingering around to break through any inadequate conclusion. Except God in sovereign justice alerted Moses to an essential yet disappointing reality.
“The Lord said to me…Go up to the Mount of Pisgah and lift up your eyes to the west and north and south and east and see it with your eyes, for you shall not cross over this Jordan.” Why? “For in the wilderness of Zin during the strife of congregation, you rebelled against My command to treat me as holy before their [God’s people] eyes at the water.” (Numbers 27:14)
Sin, non-forgiveness, disobedience, avoided opportunities, prideful resistance to the Father’s will, and a whole mess of junk life contrary to the Father’s will can cloud over my vision to see satisfying hope. This is no attempt to offer a personal pity party or allegiance to a victimized mentality.
A life-hope trip contrary to merely traveling requires the absence of a fixed perception of destination. Or, I must stop short of determining my destination lest I honor my reluctance to reject anything short of my expectation or satisfaction. Hope, even hope as gift from God, may not extend to the status of my expectation.
So for Moses, his hope lived on through the trip. Quite possibly he died and God entombed him facing Canaan. My lesson here—hope is really more about my trip through, and on, and on, and much less about arrival.
