Deuteronomy 3:27

"Handfuls of Purpose"

For All Gleaners

"Behold... not go." Deu 3:27

This was what was to occur in the case of Moses. He was to have a sight of the promised land, but he was not to go into it. This was no exceptional act on the part of God; on the contrary it is what he is always doing as the ages move onwards. There are men who see what they will never personally enjoy; and however much their impatience may wish to turn sight into still closer uses, they are filled with ecstatic joy even by the vision of the good things which are yet to come. In this way we should live in one another and for one another. Moses could return from the mountain and say that he had seen the good land; even that message would be a comfort to those who were weary, and in whom wonder was fast turning into doubt. There must always be men in a progressive age who see further than others. As some see the time when men shall learn war no more. Others see the time when there will be no need for any man to say to his brother, "Know the Lord," for all shall know him from the least unto the greatest. This method of divine providence is educational, inasmuch as it shows that not to go does not prevent the enjoyment of the soul in the prospect of realised promises. It is something to submit gracefully to a subordination of the individual, and to accept gladly benefits which are intended for the whole commonwealth. There is no tone of impatience in the statement of Moses when he hears the Lord's proposition. We must accept our place whether we are seers or literal travellers. It is no small pleasure to see even in dream or in assured hope the beautiful summer which is yet to spread its glories over the whole land. The enjoyment is, indeed, intensely spiritual, but not, for that reason, the less real. Moses may have had a fuller realisation of the promised land than the children of Israel; they had to endure the battle and the fatigue, and to win their way inch by inch: Moses saw the land, and knew that every foot of it would be given to the people whom he had led. Aged Christians must take this standpoint. Exhausted ministers must content themselves with the view that is before them, and leave others to secure that view in all its detail and literal value. The oldest man should have the keenest sight into the beautiful future. He uses his old age mischievously who uses it as a period of languor or sleep: the oldest man should have the most cheerful voice in the church.