These are not the words of some “newbie” just spouting off nice catch phrases to make you feel good. No, they are the words of a older man who is sharing what he has learned about God through his many years of experience in the desert.
If you read this passage carefully, if you bend and listen closely, you can almost hear the stirring words of an old man. This is not just any old man but this is a man whom God has used mightily throughout his lifetime and now he has some parting words for the people that he has walked closely with for the last forty years.
His name is Moses.
The Book Of Deuteronomy is his song. It is the written form of what Moses wanted the people of Israel to know before he died.
His life had been marked by some times that were up and some times that were down. He had been prepared in the finest schools of the world at the time and then all of the great aspirations that the Egyptians fell apart for him.
His life was laid out before him but God had bigger plans and purposes mapped out for him. God even used his mistakes and failures to construct God’s character in him.
God used his failure (murdering an Egyptian taskmaster) to send him into the desert for 40 years to get schooled in the School Of Hard Knocks.
There would be many lessons that he would learn in the desert but here are 3 important tests:
1- Hard times do not erase God’s promises.
2- Harsh treatment does not escape God’s notice.
3- Heavy tests do not eclipse God’s concern.
Moses’ failure turned him into a servant. The desert helped Moses to discover himself. That is often what happens to men who allow the desert to shape them. It forces us to see things within that we are not accustomed to dealing with.
Our responses to the desert often determine the success or failure of the future for us. There are generally three ways that we respond to the desert:
1- I don’t need it!
2- I’m tired of it!
3- I accept it! (This is more than just a resignation to the facts but an embracing of destiny that God has for us.)
We all have desert experiences in life. How we treat those experiences make all the difference in your outlook of life. Consider your own “desert” and reflect on what has happened with that “desert”:
1- Those years reduced and subdued your temper.
2- Those years weaned you from the shams and setups and supposed sweetness of this world.
3- Those years gifted you with eyes and hearts to suffer the loss of this world to trade for a greater reward in heaven.
Not only did the desert seem to attempt to choke the life out of Moses but there were other circumstances that he had to endure throughout his life.
He went to the mountain and met with God. Not only would he meet with God, he would return a changed man. But personal revival does not always secure local nor national revival and this he found when he returned and found Israel dancing around a golden calf.
He had to endure the criticism of his sister and brother over his choice of a wife. Sometimes this is the most difficult criticism to have to endure, that of family. It was a day when he had to stand the disgraceful attack from his brother and sister. They tried to pull him down from the place that God had been working the entire life of Moses to bring him to.
Throughout his life - his desert experience, there was something that was developing in him. It was called meekness. (Numbers 12:3)
Meek is a word that very few in this world ever come to know. It means mild, gentle, humble, unpretentious, unassuming, and modest are a few words that give us an idea of what being meek really means.
True meekness never just appears in our lives. It does not come until it has been planted, watered, pruned, purified, and beaten upon by every wind of God and cut to pieces by every knife of God.
Our text comes from the next to last chapter that Moses would ever utter. We move into chapter 34 and Moses disappears from human history by the way of death. But he writes something in the closing verses of chapter 33 that he felt that was important for us to know.
33:27 - “The eternal God is your refuge, and his everlasting arms are under you.”
Think about this - no matter what you go through - “his everlasting arms are under you” at all times.
That is a life lesson worth learning.
This had great meaning for the Israelites.
They had walked through the hot desert.
The wearying marches through the sand had worn them down physically.
They had gotten blisters on their feet from the pebbles that had gotten wedged in their sandals.
They had endured sharp cuts from the thorns.
They had gained stone bruises from the rocks that were scattered in the path.
Yet God was with them - always!
In a way, I feel like Moses in life. I have seen much and lived through many ups and downs. Yet, God has been with me always. His arms have upholded and surrounded me and protected me.
I can honestly say - God is faithful. He always has been and will alway be. Trust Him through whatever desert experience you are experiencing in your life. Allow your desert experience to form and shape you into the man or woman that God wants you to be.
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