Deuteronomy 34:10 And there arose not a prophet since in Israel like unto Moses, whom the LORD knew face to face.
Isn’t it amazing how often we are unhappy, not because God hasn’t created something of value but because we compare ourselves to other people? We want to be different than we are, whatever that may be. We wish to be taller, shorter, heavier, slighter, smarter, or wealthier. We spend our time wishing to be someone else. I’ve got to tell you that this is transparently a waste of time.
Take Israel, for instance. Many times Israel was following after gods that could not help and envying people whose end was destruction. How silly! Three times in Deuteronomy 33-34 we find the unique nature of different personalities. Let me give you the examples.
Deuteronomy 33:29 says, “Happy art thou, O Israel: who is like unto thee, O people saved by the LORD.” He goes on to describe them. Israel was utterly unique. The Bible says, “Who is like unto thee?” The answer was that there was no one like Israel. They were a creation of God by design and for a purpose.
Later on, the Bible goes from speaking as Israel as a nation to Moses as an individual. Speaking of the death of Moses, Deuteronomy 34:10 says, “And there arose not a prophet since in Israel like unto Moses, whom the LORD knew face to face.” No one was like Moses. When God first commissioned Moses, Moses said, “God, who am I that I should go stand before Pharaoh?” God’s reply was, “I will. I am. You are nobody, Moses, but if you will obey, I will show Myself to be God.” Moses obeyed and God proved Himself to be the God that Moses and Israel needed Him to be.
Why were Israel and Moses so singularly blessed by God? It is because God Himself is singular. All of us are created differently, but all of us are created by God. Back in Deuteronomy 33:26 it says, “There is none like unto the God of Jeshurun, who rideth upon the heaven in thy help, and in his excellency on the sky.” So, who is like Israel? No one is. Who is like Moses? No one is. And that is because there is no one like God.
Deuteronomy 32:31 says, “For their rock is not as our Rock, even our enemies themselves being judges.” God is singular. He alone is the strength of His people. The Canaanites trusted in their “rock,” but their gods were empty. Verse 39 is again the same idea, “See now that I, even I, am he, and there is no god with me.” He says, “I am the only God. There is none like Me.”
This must have been wonderful for Joshua to know. Joshua needed that same God to enable him that had enabled Moses to be the man that he was.
There was no one like Moses. Think about Moses. We envision him with a voice like thunder, a hand as rough as granite, a will that was unbending as steel, riotous white hair, a full white beard, and a staff the size of a tree trunk. Who could ever be Moses again? No one could. “So Moses the servant of the LORD died there in the land of Moab, according to the word of the LORD,” and there was no one ever again quite like him.
But, there was someone like Joshua. There was only one like Joshua, and that was Joshua. The same God Who brought Israel out of Egypt was going to bring them into Canaan. The same God that enabled Moses to stand before Pharaoh would enable Joshua to stand before all of his enemies. This same God is able to stand in your behalf and to help you today if you will acknowledge His singular place in your life and acknowledge that you are His unique creation. In short, God has made you unique for a purpose that He alone can guide you to fulfill.