Daily EncouragementSample

Even the greatest servants of God die, but the purpose of God moves on. There is a proper place for grief - “The Israelites grieved for Moses in the plains of Moab thirty days (Deut. 34:8) - but “the time of weeping and mourning” must not be so prolonged that the people of God delay getting ready to cross the Jordan into the land. Respect for the dead should not lead to a refusal to move on with God.

It is possible to perpetuate the memory of God’s celebrated servants in an unhealthy way which is almost a refusal to recognize that “Moses my servant is dead.” Such veneration is wrong, because it exalts a man unduly and hinders advance. Moreover it is unnecessary, because great leaders like Moses will still speak even when they are dead: “Even to this day . . . Moses is read” (2 Cor. 3:15). And more than that, they still live, without any help from us. Moses was there on the Mount of Transfiguration, and in the heavenly places they sing “the song of Moses the servant of God and the song of the Lamb” (Rev. 15:3).

So the people of God are free to accept the death of his servants, to wipe away their tears, and to go forward filled with hope.