Daily Devotion

Selection Taken From:
A Year with God by R.P. Nettelhorst

Make this the year you let God's Word "dwell in you richly"---and marvel at the results! Each entry in this 365-day devotional features Scripture verses in which God speaks, accompanied by insights and applications to enhance your understanding. Learn what God says about hope and fear; perseverance and quitting; companionship and isolation; and more! 384 pages, softcover from Nelson, Copyright 2010.

All Will Be Well

GOD said to Moses, "Climb up into the Abarim Mountains and look over at the land that I am giving to the People of Israel. When you've had a good look you'll be joined to your ancestors in the grave— yes, you also along with Aaron your brother. This goes back to the day when the congregation quarreled in the Wilderness of Zin and you didn't honor me in holy reverence before them in the matter of the waters, the Waters of Meribah (Quarreling) at Kadesh in the Wilderness of Zin."
Moses responded to Goo: "Let GOD, the God of the spirits of everyone living, set a man over this community to lead them, to show the way ahead and bring them back home so GOD's community will not be like sheep without a shepherd."
GOD said to Moses, "Take Joshua the son of Nun—the Spirit is in him!—and place your hand on him. Stand him before Eleazar the priest in front of the entire congregation and commission him with everyone watching. Pass your magisterial authority over to him so that the whole congregation of the People of Israel will listen obediently to him. He is to consult with Eleazar the priest who, using the oracle-Urim, will prayerfully advise him in the presence of GOD. He will command the People of Israel, the entire community, in all their comings and goings." - Numbers 27:12-21 MSG

Who knows whether the one who comes after you will be wise or a fool?" said the author of Ecclesiastes. Moses knew he was going to die before he could lead the people of Israel into the promised land. Who would take his place? Would he be up to the task? Moses had been the one to stand before Pharaoh. He had prayed to God on Israel's behalf. He had stood up for Israel when even God seemed ready to give up on them. And now, just as they were about to reach the place God had promised them, Moses wasn't going to be there for them. Would his forty years of ministry be for nothing? Would it all fall apart without him?

God let Moses know who would take his place. God reassured him that just as he had been with Moses and had helped him lead a group of obstinate and difficult human beings through a nightmare, so God would be with Joshua. Just as Moses had succeeded because of God's presence, so Joshua would succeed for the same reason. The human leader might change, but the real leader—God—wasn't going anywhere. God can take care of things even when we're gone.