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Moses' Desire To Reach The Land Of Canaan.
by Olawale Ogunsola "But the Lord was angry on your account, and would not listen to me. So the Lord said to me,'Enough of that! Speak no more to Me of this matter Go up to the top of Pisgah, and lift your eyes toward the west, the north, the south, and the east, behold it with your eyes for you shall not cross over this Jordan.' '' Deuteronomy 3:26-27 This is a recap of Moses encounter with God on his demand to reach the promised land, Canaan. He desired to go there but God refused his request. This experience has been used in several prayer meetings as a prayer point. It can be used in such fora as well as in other Christian gatherings. It is also useful for teaching purposes because there are lots of lessons to learn from this encounter. Now, the question is "Should Prophet Moses Reach The Land Of Canaan?" We should never accuse the Lord of foolishness or wickedness. He is a righteous Judge. He knows everything from the beginning to the end. Still, one is baffled ; why did a man, a great national intercessor, who was seen by his Maker as the most meek on the face the earth in his generation be denied his request to reach the land of Canaan? God remains righteous forever! Let us briefly examine some of the possible reasons he was not allowed to reach the promised land. Reason one. Moses' assignment. What was Moses' assignment in the plan of God for His people ? At the point of his call, Moses' major assignment which he had doubts to carry out was, "Come now, therefore, and I will send you to Pharaoh that YOU MAY BRING MY PEOPLE, the children of Israel, OUT OF EGYPT." Exodus 3:10. We should not forget that Moses finally accomplished this task successfully. It is noteworthy that "bring My people ...out of Egypt" DOES NOT include reaching the land of Canaan. The task of leading God's people to the promised land and distributing the land was reserved for Moses' successor, Joshua. God instructed Moses "But command Joshua, and encourage him and strengthen him, for he shall go over before the people, and he shall cause them to inherit the land which you will see." Deuteronomy 3:28. Should Moses reach the land of Canaan under Joshua's leadership? Reason two. Action at the point of call. Moses' action at the point of commissioning settled this. On the day he was called and commissioned, after the Lord had completed training him in the wilderness and was fit for the task, Moses raised many excuses which were all defeated by the Lord. Still, seeing he has lost out, he said, "O my Lord, please send by the hand of whomever else You may send." Exodus 4:13. At these words, the Lord was angry. Moses was not ready to do the work. So the Lord patiently waited until He found "whomever else" to send in Joshua. By this time, Moses wanted to carry out his role more than was planned for him. He wanted to continue the work he initially did not want to do. Now he was also refused to reach the land. The Lord had got another alternative in Joshua. This teaches us that we should be careful of whatever we are going to say when we are engaged in conversations with the Lord. If you provoke Him to anger, you will pay dearly for it when it will pain you most. Should Moses reach the land of Canaan? Reason three. To avoid turning him into an "object" to sacrificed to. The Lord knows all that is contained in the hearts of His people. The children of Israel would have turned him into an idol to worship. Thanks to God that they did not even know where he was buried. Do you know that a replica of the poisonous snake which Moses made in the wilderness was turned into an object they worshipped for years in the promised land? They named it "NEHUSTAN". It was during king Hezekiah's reforms that he destroyed it. Numbers 21:19, 8-9; 2 King 18:4. Should Moses reach the land of Canaan? I think what should matter most to us is to allow nothing to impair our relationship with God as Moses was very close to Him. Then our prayer should be to complete the assignment God had given us. Moses accomplished his. Reason four. Longetivity. The Lord did not deny Moses long life. He spent forty years in the palace to learn about leadership , forty years in wilderness training and the rest forty years to lead the people of the Lord. This fulfilled the promise of God in Genesis 6:3. "My Spirit shall not strive with man forever, for he is indeed flesh; yet his days shall be one hundred and twenty years." For achieving this, Moses should be grateful. Therefore, it is not mandatory that Moses should reach the land of Canaan. We should be happy that he lived his life as planned by God and lessons his life has to teach us. Stay blessed and rapturable because the Lord is coming soon. Note. Scriptures quoted are frrom the New King James Version of the Holy Bible. The Author is the set man of CTFM(WORLD OUTREACH)and Presiding Pastor of Christ Restland Gospel Church.He is a Poet and author of many books. Visit his blogsites www.4thlink.wordpress.com and www.peacelink.wordpress.com for more quality contents. Article Source: http://www.faithwriters.com |