First off I just have to take a moment to say thank you. Last week's post "Silent Saturday" received over 80 views! I was overwhelmed and humbled at the response! I love being able to share what God is teaching me and I really love that some of you liked it enough to share it. So thank you friends for sharing the message that God laid on my heart this Easter. I'm grateful for your response.
This week I want to do something a little different and start a series. I'm calling it Farewells. Week 1 is Moses and the Israelites.
If you could say one last thing to the people you love what would it be? In Deuteronomy 29-31 Moses takes time to speak to the people he has been leading for the last 40 years. Moses became the leader of Israel when God sent him to Pharaoh to free His people. Moses listened to their complaints during the plagues, he observed their fear when they came to the Red Sea and participated in their joy after they crossed. A few days later he grieved when the people cried out against God and he was angered when they rejected God and made a golden calf to worship even while Moses was on Mt. Sinai communing with the Lord.
Moses spent 40 years as their leader. He rejoiced with them, grieved with them, prayed for them, intervened on their behalf with the Lord for them. He ruled over them as their judge and he dedicated about half of his life to them. Obviously he had his times of anger and frustration but there is no doubt he loved them and he cared about what happened to them.
Now he's facing the end of his life and one of the last things he does is he calls the whole nation of Israel together so he can talk to them. He begins by reminding them of what God has done for them. His deliverance of the people from Egypt, how during 40 years in the wilderness their clothes and sandals didn't wear out. He reminds them of their defeats when they left Egypt, the renewal of their covenant with the Lord and he reminds them of what they left behind, the worship of idols and other false gods.
Moses also offers a warning. He warns them what will happen if they turn away from the Lord. He says that even their children and other nations will condemn them. He explains the blessings and curses that lay before them. Blessings if they follow the Lord, curses if they reject Him. Then we come to my favorite part.
Deuteronomy 30:11-20 in my Bible this section is titled as "The Offer of Life or Death" which seems like the perfect title. Verse 11 says "Now what I am commanding you today is not too difficult for you or beyond your reach."
After 40 years of leading the nation of Israel through the wilderness and right before they're about to finally cross the Jordan and enter the land of their inheritance, Moses takes this opportunity to give the people a choice. He knows them and he tells them straight out that what he's telling them isn't too difficult for them. He's taking away all their excuses but he also acknowledges that the choice is theirs. They can follow the Lord and choose life or reject Him and choose death. He urges them to choose life to "love the Lord your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him."
In this moment, just before Moses is going to die and the people are going to claim their inheritance I imagine that he thought about what the most important thing he could tell them would be. And this what he came up with.
So what would you say in your farewell? If you had the chance to tell your loved ones something before you passed away? Moses urged his loved ones to choose life and cling to the Lord. Even as he was brutally honest and acknowledged that they would walk away. What would you? What would your farewell address be? And if you'd want to say it at the end of your life then why not say it now?
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