Moses, the amazing prophet and servant, gets to the edge of the Promised Land, but would never enter it. All the work, the trials, the frustrations he endured, gets him a glimpse of everything God had promised, but he wouldn’t get to experience it.  I remember when I first read through the Pentateuch and came to this passage. I was angry and for years I thought about how unfair it was to Moses.  

Of all the people who should have gone to the Promised Land, it was Moses. I remember thinking through my preparation for ministry about this story.  I thought, “Supposing I am a faithful servant of God, yet I make one mistake (which even then I knew was highly likely, more of a certainty) then would I not get to experience the fruits of my labor?”

As I have grown older I have come to an uneasy truce with this text.  While I still don’t really like it, I have come to understand that when Moses died, he entered into the greatest promise. I remind myself that the earthly Promised Land is only a shadow of the great promises we have in God. Through years of ministry, I have also learned that the work itself, that striving with God and God’s people is a blessing in itself. Sometimes our work can be difficult, much like it was for Moses, but we are working for God. 

It doesn’t get any better than this.