He Was Looking at God

I was not prepared for the emotions that were stirred on our visit to Mt Nebo. This is the place where Moses learned that he would not be allowed to go into the Promised Land Deut 34:1-12. Jim J suggested that it would have been akin to a pastor who led a church for several years then found it was time to move on. We looked out upon a vista that encompassed the distant cities of Hebron, Jerusalem, Jericho, Ramallah, and others all invisible to the naked eye.
It was suddenly heartbreaking to think of the sadness Moses must have felt. Jim Turley said "Look up there-that is the church some pastors never get to have." That statement had the effect of tying the past to the present. It gave me a sense of what some pastors in the itineracy system might experience each year. The combination of comments by the two Rev Jim's said to me sometimes you need to say goodbye to some places, people in your care, and with whom you have a relationship. In other cases you may never get to the place you sensed God called you to go. Bruce Feiler gives a perspective on Moses inability to enter the Promised Land that I found helpful. "The actual physical dimensions to the Promised Land matter less than it's spiritual dimensions." He described the fulfillment Moses did achieve. "Looking out will not show him what he sees. The only way for Moses to see the complete dimensions-the full glory of the Promied Land-is by looking inward to his own internal geography, the true reflection of divine glory. John 17:10 All mine are yours and yours are mine and I have been glorified in them. Moses may not get to the land, but he gets the promise... The land alone is not the destination; the destination is the place where human beings live in consort with the Divine. Ultimately it does not matter that what the Bible describes is impossible to see. It doesn't matter because Moses wasn't seeing as we do. At the end, he wasn't even looking at the land. He was looking where we should look. He was looking at God." It was quite fitting as we were leaving the lookout point on Mt. Nebo a sandstorm obscured our view. Over the last few days several people have quoted Jeremiah 29:11 "For I know the plans I have for you, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future." This has been a much needed reminder to me that what I cannot see does not really matter. God has a plan and infinitely better plan. Mary B