The Lord said to Moses, “This is the land of which I swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, saying, ‘I will give it to your descendants’; I have let you see it with your eyes, but you shall not cross over there.” Then Moses, the servant of the Lord, died there in the land of Moab, at the Lord’s command. (Deuteronomy 34:4-5 NRSV)
And the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time.
T. S. Eliot
Moses lived a life that we cannot imagine. He was born of a slave woman, was raised by a queen in Egypt, was chosen by God to lead His people to freedom, witnessed miracles and died alone.
I confess that when I re-read Moses’ story in Exodus, I am stunned by the drama, amazed by the faithfulness, and awed by the vastness of God’s hand in the story!
As I look for parallels in our world, I certainly can find drama, dismay, disaster, death and defeat. I also find heroes in our world. Our country has been slammed by weather (there were times when I wondered if God was re-thinking His vow never to destroy the earth by flood again), by wildfires in the West, and by discord in Washington. It is discouraging, to say the least.
And yet, the human spirit, by the grace of God, keeps on keeping on.
I have been proud of the response to disasters: proud of those who helped, who served, who prayed, who, when nothing else was available, offered a hug and a kind word.
There are good people in the world, doing good things, making a difference, holding on.
Thanks be to God for good people!