Have you ever noticed how easy it is to feel like you are stuck in a rat race? We dream about the house, car, vacation, clothes, and electronic devices that we see on TV or in the driveway next to ours. We work harder to obtain more, only to find out that we need to keep making more money in order to sustain what we already have and to strive for the next dream or goal that we have for our life.

In this passage of Scripture, the wisdom we are being taught is not that having material possessions is a bad thing, but that there is a better life to pursue.

This passage is filled with attention to transition. This is the moment where Moses passes the mantle of leadership to Joshua. This is the moment that Israel finally enters the promised land. This is the beginning of the work to clear the land, and they will need strength and courage for that task.

This is the beginning of a new kind of rest as they begin to enjoy the provisions of the promised land.

It’s hard to imagine how it would feel to be told that your children will not follow the Lord. Moses has invested his whole life into the “saving” of God’s people. They have been rescued from Egypt, they have been taught in the wilderness, and now they are about to be given the Promised Land. But even still, they will not choose the Lord with their whole heart.

God sees this future and he instructs Moses to write a song.

One last time, Moses urges the people to follow God, and then it is finished. After 40 years of pleading with and for these people, Moses is now finished. The conclusion is bittersweet.

Moses has seen God do remarkable things, he has walked with remarkable patience and humility, and yet he too fell short of the mark and lost his patience. Moses broke faith with God and God’s righteousness would need to prevail. With God, there are not favourites, not even Moses. We all must bear the consequence of sin.

After 400 years of waiting, after 40 years of wandering, teaching, and preparing, the day has arrived. The promise to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob is kept. The promise to Moses, that God would use him to lead the people out of Egypt to a promised land, is now kept.

God keeps his word. God’s promises come true. These verses tie up the story and declare again that God is great and good.

Joshua has watched Moses lead for 40 years. He has been an eyewitness to how Moses would meet with God. He has been an eyewitness to how Moses would seek God and trust in God. He has seen how the Lord provides. Now it is his turn to lead the people.

These short instructions say so much.

It’s one thing to endure hardship for a season. It’s quite another thing to suffer interminably, to languish at the miserable intersection of chronic pain and diminished hope.

Psalm 39 is a lament for the Sufferer who has endured too much for too long. It’s a prayer for the Pray-er who suspects her cries to the heavens are really just shouts into the void. It’s a liturgy for the Bewildered; a hymn for the Seemingly-Forsaken.