Punta Gorda Seventh-day Adventist Church

Scripture: Then the Lord spoke to Moses that very same day, saying: 49“Go up this mountain of the Abarim, Mount Nebo, which is in the land of Moab, across from Jericho; view the land of Canaan, which I give to the children of Israel as a possession; 50and die on the mountain which you ascend, and be gathered to your people, just as Aaron your brother died on Mount Hor and was gathered to his people.  (Deuteronomy 32:48-50 NKJV)

Observation: Moses comes to the end of his career, and his life, his work of leading the Israelites out of Egypt and to the borders of the Promised Land finished, and yet he’s not allowed to go in with them.  Now God tells Moses to take a look at the land from the top of Mount Nebo, and then he would die.

Application: I guess I find this story interesting because of how it has been rendered as it seems like God is  telling Moses, “go ahead and die!”, as if it was in Moses’ power to die.

Today is my fifty-first birthday, the age my dad was when he died, thirty six years ago.  I remember the morning of that day, we kissed him as we left him home, like we would normally do, only to come back home that afternoon to the news that he had died.  His death, the result of a double, massive heart attack, came suddenly, unexpectedly.  I guess I wonder what it might be like to know exactly when, if not how, one would die. I suppose if one was like Moses, we would not have any problems at all. . . just simply accept it.  But which of us is like Moses!  Maybe we would go through the stages of dying.  Maybe we’d go into deep depression. . . which would make the dying process worse.  Maybe we would do all in our power to make all possible arrangements for our belongings.  Maybe we would have time to do all those things and visit all those places we had wanted to.  But since we don’t have that choice, we need to live each day as if it were our last day, without regrets, particularly in our dealings with our loved ones.

A Prayer You May Say: Father, help us to value each day as if it were the last one we’d be alive.

Used by permission of Adventist Family Ministries, North American Division of Seventh-day Adventists.