Keeping the vision

FOCUS READING

Deuteronomy 34:5-6 (NRSV)

Then Moses, the servant of the LORD, died there in the land of Moab, at the Lord's command. He was buried in a valley in the land of Moab, opposite Beth-peor, but no one knows his burial place to this day.

DAILY BYTE

The most famous and poignant parallel to Moses’ story in our modern culture might be Martin Luther King, Jr. He didn’t know when he was going to die. But history remembers him as a person of vision, who, every day of his life, carried God’s vision of the Promised Land with him, giving others courage and hope. With that vision, he was able to preach some of the most famous, visionary and true words in history – and they should sound very familiar to you because they come from the story of Moses we’ve been reading this week! Martin Luther King, Jr. said on April 3, 1968, the night before he was assassinated:

’Well, I don't know what will happen now. We've got some difficult days ahead. But it doesn't matter with me now. Because I've been to the mountaintop. And I don't mind. Like anybody, I would like to live a long life. Longevity has its place. But I'm not concerned about that now. I just want to do God's will. And He's allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I've looked over. And I've seen the promised land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight that we, as a people will get to the promised land.’

Whatever stage of life we are in – whatever disappointments we have experienced – whatever endings we are approaching – we are called to be a people of vision. To stand like Moses and King did and keep the faith that the promised land God has for his people will come – that it is coming right now.

Did you notice in the passage from Deuteronomy that there is no tomb – no burial site for Moses? It seems an odd detail to include. But remember, just as there is no tomb for Jesus – maybe this means that we are to be a people who carry on a vision of life. Maybe we are called not to pilgrimage back time and again to places of death and disappointment, but instead to move forward into new life, trusting in the continued promises of God, as Moses did.

What is your vision? Is it of a time and place of death and disappointment, or is it of a possibility of new life?