But God is so rich in mercy; he loved us so much that even though we were spiritually dead and doomed by our sins, he gave us back our lives again when he raised Christ from the dead—only by his undeserved favor have we ever been saved—and lifted us up from the grave into glory along with Christ, where we sit with him in the heavenly realms—all because of what Christ Jesus did. And now God can always point to us as examples of how very, very rich his kindness is, as shown in all he has done for us through Jesus Christ. Ephesians 2:4-7 TLB
Frankly, for many years, I believed it was a little harsh that Moses was not allowed to enter the Promised Land.
Afterall, look at all the stuff he had to go through just to keep on enduring those wretched, complaining, carping, ungrateful people!
- Forty years on the backside of the desert.
- Finally getting away from Pharaoh after all those throw-down miracles.
- Then, that “little” incident with the golden calf?
- Getting to the borders of the Promised Land only to be turned away because of others unbelief?
- Eighty years trudging through hot barren sand!
Couldn’t that crowd have finally realized that complaining only makes the load heavier?
Couldn’t God have cut Moses just a little slack?
Missing the point
Then one day God gave me a little light.
He reminded me of the incredible blessings Moses had been given… the awesome privileges he alone was given.
- Power to perform miracles before all of Egypt.
- The gift of seeing God’s glory in the flesh.
- Face-to-face conversations with the LORD on the Mountain of God.
- Receiving the Law of God from God’s own hand.
- Building the first Meeting Place with God.
- Abundant Mana and Water in the Wilderness.
- Healing and grace for others via a brass serpent.
- Writing the first five books of our Bible.
Then God reminded me of a scripture:
“The servant who knows what his master wants and ignores it, or insolently does whatever he pleases, will be thoroughly thrashed. But if he does a poor job through ignorance, he’ll get off with a slap on the hand. Great gifts mean great responsibilities; greater gifts, greater responsibilities!”
Luke 12:47-48 the message
Hmmmm?
That’s an important reminder for us all.
For we have been given the greatest GIFT of all:
My beloved friends, let us continue to love each other since love comes from God. Everyone who loves is born of God and experiences a relationship with God. The person who refuses to love doesn’t know the first thing about God, because God is love—so you can’t know him if you don’t love. This is how God showed his love for us: God sent his only Son into the world so we might live through him. This is the kind of love we are talking about—not that we once upon a time loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to clear away our sins and the damage they’ve done to our relationship with God.
1 john 4:7-10 the message
You are so dearly LOVED!
It does not matter where you are or where you have been.
It doesn’t matter how much you have blown it.
If you reach out to Jesus you will find that He is already there (wherever you are!) reaching out to you with His love, and forgiveness, cleansing, and grace!
You are so dearly loved, even as Moses was after making so many mistakes.
Moses was just a flesh and blood man like us. Impatient, bad-tempered, but LOVED.
Next time you blow it?
I hope you will remember, for the repentant, there is ALWAYS grace.
Now God has us where he wants us, with all the time in this world and the next to shower grace and kindness upon us in Christ Jesus. Saving is all his idea, and all his work. All we do is trust him enough to let him do it. It’s God’s gift from start to finish! We don’t play the major role. If we did, we’d probably go around bragging that we’d done the whole thing! No, we neither make nor save ourselves. God does both the making and saving. He creates each of us by Christ Jesus to join him in the work he does, the good work he has gotten ready for us to do, work we had better be doing.
ephesians 2:8-10 the message
Women With Destiny 