Today’s Reading:
Deuteronomy 34:1-7
“... I have caused you to see it with your eyes, but you will not go over there.” (Deut. 34: 4)
I read a book several years ago titled Finishing Strong by Steve Farrar and the writer mentioned a series of stories both in our contemporary time and scripture days of people who started a race but didn’t finish. The sad thing is that a few or a few always finish among several who started a race. Some people start a race well and they finish poorly, badly or wounded and they never receive their reward. Some started well and they finished well while some started badly, and they finished well though some started badly and finished badly. It is not about how you start a race, but it is ultimately about how you finish the race.
Moses was a leader per excellence, a man called and ordained by God himself to lead the people of Israel out of the land of Egypt. It is not a gain say because from his conception to adulthood, God has been involved and this shows that he has been ordained from the womb. Moses was not without divine pruning and training for his life could be divided into 3: his first 40 years were birth and educational training, the second 40 years was pruning and preparation for ministry and his last phase was for fulfilling his purpose. Several miracles were wrought by God through Moses in the land of Egypt in the record remains unbeatable to date. God spoke to him face to face, unlike other prophets. He was a servant of God per excellence. In our days I can’t just imagine the kind of title we are to give to him if he were here with us. Calling him a Bishop or Archbishop would be too low for his calibre because his fellowship with God was second to none. A man who came down from the mountain such that people could not behold his face because he had been with God so much that the glory can’t be beheld with physical eyes. The Lord used him tremendously. Apart from Jesus in the scripture permit me to say that Moses was the second most powerful man that has ever lived.
After all of these experiences, one expects that such a man should not have any issue but it wasn’t. Someone said the closer you are to God, the closer you are to death and discipline. What a man who is not too close to God can do and not be punished, a man like Moses cannot do. In verse 4 of Deuteronomy 34, then the LORD said to him, this is the land that I swore to Abraham… I will give it to your seed. I have caused you to see it with your eyes, but you will not go over there. The issue here is not that he didn’t see the land, he saw what he laboured for, but he couldn’t go over there, another version says… you will not cross over into it. As I am writing this piece, there is a cry and lamentation in my heart. How will a man labour for something and at the edge of entering or possessing it, heaven declared that he could only see? It means the land is not far again for him to be allowed to see. The full joy would have been seeing and crossing over to possess it. Oh God, may I not only see but help me to cross over and possess it.
Brothers and sisters, how will you finish the race? The focus is no more on Moses because it was even heaven that did the burial service for him to the extent that nobody knows his sepulchre. The onus rests on you and I. What is that thing that wants to finish you before you finish the race or that will not allow you to finish strong? Is it lust, greed, sexual immoralities, unforgiveness or any kind of sin or weight, why not drop them at Calvary now and cry for help?
JAMES ALADE
To surrender your life to Christ, say this prayer aloud: Father, thank you for Jesus Christ. Forgive my sins, take control of my heart and lead me in your righteous path by the power of Your Holy Spirit. Thank You, Lord.”
If you said the prayer, Congratulations! Prayerfully look for a living church and report to the resident reverend, pastor or priest.
Prayer:
Whatever that will finish me before I finish the race, let God finish them in Jesus' name.
I receive grace to finish well in Jesus' name
May I not die by the wayside in Jesus' name
Arrows from the pit of hell attacking me not to go far, backfire in Jesus' name
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