Moses already knew that he would not enter the promised land because of his rebellion at the waters of Meribah, although the Lord graciously allowed him to get a view of the land from the top of a mountain. Here, the Lord reminded Moses that, like his brother and sister and all the previous generation of Israelites apart from Joshua and Caleb, he would soon be coming to the end of his life.

Notice how Moses reacted to this. He did not panic, argue with God, plead for his life or even ask for a little more time. His first thought was for the people he had faithfully led for so many years. He did not want them to be left leaderless – like sheep without a shepherd. His response to God was to ask God to appoint his successor.

It is possible that Moses had already thought that Joshua would make a good leader. He seemed like the obvious choice. One of the last of the old generation, he had been faithful to the Lord, trusting God to deliver the promised land to the people. He had experience and faithfulness on his side. More than that, though, as verse 18 makes clear, the Spirit of the Lord had given Joshua the gift of leadership.

Moses did not appoint his own successor based on his own human logic. He went to God first, asking the Lord to make the choice. Moses trusted the Lord for his own life – right up to the end of it – and he also trusted the Lord for the future of the people. He may have been their leader, but he knew that the Lord was their sovereign.

We may feel a strong sense of responsibility for something, or someone, and this can become heavy on us but, if we can remember that it is the Lord who is sovereign, we can avoid shouldering the whole burden and know that the Lord’s purposes are good and his plans and promises are completely reliable.

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NEWBOLD COMMUNITY CHURCH