Deuteronomy 34:7 And Moses was an hundred and twenty years old when he died: his eye was not dim, nor his natural force abated
When you read the biographies of great people, you realize there is nothing new under the sun, but there are things that are new to us because we don’t remember, haven’t experienced them ourselves, or haven’t paid attention. When you read a biography, you feel like you get to know the person. Quite frankly, you begin the book realizing these people are dead. They are going to die at the end of the book, but you get to know them and feel as if you know their life. You hate to say goodbye, even though you know it is coming, when you finish the biography.
The same is true when you come to the Bible. The Bible is full of biographies of great men and woman whom God used. When you get to the end of Deuteronomy, you get to the end of the life of Moses. Deuteronomy 34:7 says, “And Moses was an hundred and twenty years old when he died: his eye was not dim, nor his natural force abated.” We come to the end of the story of Moses and hate to see him go, but, wait. Whose story have we actually read? Is it the story of Moses we find in Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy, or is the story of something bigger and greater? To ask the question is to answer it because this is the story of Jehovah God working through a people and a man, Moses. When you read Moses’ story, you are reminded that you are a success when your life requires God to account for your life.
Think about Moses and all that he accomplished and was. How do you account for that? Was it just the native ability Moses had, sheer chance, luck, and genetics? Or was there something else? When God first came to Moses and said, “Tell Pharaoh to let my people go,” Moses replied by asking, “Who am I?” Moses was nobody and that is why God asked him. Moses wouldn’t get the credit. God would get the credit by enabling Moses to be an ambassador and messenger through whom God would work. That was his greatest point of strength, when he realized he was nobody and asked God to help and do the work.
In contrast, perhaps his greatest weakness and the reason for his not entering the land of Canaan was when he was frustrated with the people, God told him to speak to the rock, but he struck the rock instead. Before his primary act of rebellion, he had said to the people, “Must we fetch you water out of this rock, you rebels?” He called the people rebels at the very moment he was rebelling against God by not doing what God had said.
Deuteronomy 34:7 says that his natural force was unabated. He was still a strong man, mentally forceful and physically agile, yet if you look at the story of Moses, you find that he was always transmitting what God had spoken and told him to say. The Bible often says in Deuteronomy, “And the LORD spoke to Moses saying…” and then you have what Moses transmitted to the people.
God actually buried Moses. That was quite an honor. I don’t know if anyone else has been put to rest by the Lord except Moses. Verses 11-12 give a little bit of the relationship of God and Moses. The Bible says there has never been a prophet like unto Moses “in all the signs and the wonders, which the LORD sent him to do in the land of Egypt to Pharaoh, and to all his servants, and to all his land, and to all that mighty hand, and in all the great terror which Moses shewed in the sight of all Israel.” So, God sent and Moses showed. That was the relationship. In other words, you cannot explain the life of Moses without accounting for God. It requires God to explain Moses. It wasn’t just his natural abilities. He had abilities, but God gave those. You have to take God into account.
My question for you is, “To what extent must God be considered to account for your life?” Are your accomplishments nothing more than your genetics, ambitions, and wishes, or would someone look at your life and say, “Wow, I cannot explain this apart from the work of God.” Do your goals require God? You may think that God needs your ambitions. To be sure, God doesn’t just want you to sit around, but do you have greater ambitions than God does? If you are obedient and willing, then you will never lack for a grand design or purpose for your life because God takes care of all of that. Do your plans require God? So often you have ambitions and plans and know what you want to accomplish, even accomplish for God, but have you considered God? So, the question is not only if your plans are good, but if they account for God. Is God the one who has the plans and mind behind what you wish to do?
Do your joys require God? Do your fears account for a God who is with you? Oftentimes the Bible says of the people and specifically of Joshua, “Fear not; I am with you.” Deuteronomy 34:9 says, “And Joshua…was full of the spirit of wisdom; for Moses had laid his hand upon him: and the children of Israel hearkened unto him.” They listened to him just as they listened to Moses because both Joshua and Moses were transmitting what God had said. Joshua was able to begin where Moses ended because God transcended both of them. God was the force behind the movement. God basically said in Joshua 1, “Moses is dead. Bring forth Joshua, and fear not for I am with you.” That is why when Moses was gone God’s people move on because whether it was Moses or Joshua, there was a transcendent God behind what was being accomplished.
What about you? Can you explain your life with anything other than mere genetics, ambition, and the gifts you have been given? You want to be a success and have your life matter. Indeed God wants your life to matter. Remember you are a success when it requires God to account for the accomplishments of your life.