06/15/2026
I have been with a few people in 40 years who have received an estimate on the remaining length of their life, or that of someone they love. Usually it is a length supposedly measured in months or years. I sat with my wife when that happened to her and watched it hit like a hammer. On a few unique occasions, I saw the announcement of a remaining lifespan measured in minutes or hours, and watched that process unfold.
It is a tough experience for the family, for sure. It is tough for the one given the news. Some are afraid, some panic a bit, some sink in resignation. Some are ready for the transition...they KNOW where they are going and are ready to get on with it due to age or suffering. The differences between those in the crosshairs say a lot about what is happening in the heart.
In Numbers 27:12-17 it says "Now the LORD said to Moses: “Go up into this Mount Abarim, and see the land which I have given to the children of Israel. And when you have seen it, you also shall be gathered to your people, as Aaron your brother was gathered. For in the Wilderness of Zin, during the strife of the congregation, you rebelled against My command to hallow Me at the waters before their eyes.” (These are the waters of Meribah, at Kadesh in the Wilderness of Zin.) Then Moses spoke to the LORD, saying: “Let the LORD, the God of the spirits of all flesh, set a man over the congregation, who may go out before them and go in before them, who may lead them out and bring them in, that the congregation of the LORD may not be like sheep which have no shepherd.”
Whoa. "Hey, Moses, it is time. Right now. Go up on the mountain and you are gonna die." Seems immediate, right? It takes time to go up the mountain, and Moses has a few processes to put in order first, but this isn't pitched as something "eventual." It is a NOW thing!
How did he FEEL about such an announcement? Well...he was OLD. About 120. Even way back in those days, with some people living a little longer, 120 was OOOOLLLLLDDDD. Way old. So, like others who have lived beyond their health, friends and family, maybe Moses was totally good with this. Or...NOT. It appears in another place in Scripture that Moses was strong and healthy, kept so by God, right up to the end. They didn't carry him up the slope on a hospital bed. He HIKED up there. That takes health.
When you read it that way, he wasn't sick, or wearing out. He was moving along as he had for years...and yet his life was "Game Over!" That isn't normal. People can die quickly in terrible tragedies but God doesn't generally ANNOUNCE their exit first! SO, God really is saying "Game over." Moses, I am going to have you hike up there, and then make an offer you cannot refuse. You ain't a-coming down.
Wow. And then, add another fact. Why? Because Moses rebelled, striking the rock for water out of frustration and anger rather than speaking to it. He disobeyed, doing it HIS way in a moment God TOLD him the right way. "Moses, You are taking a hike, you aren't coming back, and it has to be that way right now because you messed up. Wow. People die all the time, but not that many (statistically speaking) KNOW that the reason for their death is their own fault!
I don't think I would likely be happy about all that. "Wait a second! I was faithful for years. I worked HARD. I taught YOUR stubborn and sinful people your will and word. I had a couple of numbskulls for siblings who were often more hurt than help. I have ONE BAD DAY and now I die for it? I don't get to GO to the Promised Land...after all this journey, all these promises...but only get to SEE it? That isn't fair."
Moses doesn't say that, His main concern is that someone else qualified and in God's plan will lead Israel next. I guess he could have figured that God wasn't going to collect him and leave Israel to some amateur, but he WAS concerned that God gave them what they needed. He knew how hard the job was. He knew how high the standard was. Yet THAT was what he cared most about.
That always amazes me. Not the demand for personal benefit but the cry for God to do what was best for others who didn't even largely appreciate what they were receiving. Jesus would do the same, right? He would hang on a cross for a crime He did NOT commit so that we didn't have to be punished for our own. He cared about the men and women who would carry the Church on it's next lap into the world. He didn't complain...He just DID IT.
Wow!
