When You Only See the Promised Land

Being a leader can be tough. It’s often a thankless job. Instead of celebrating in success, we see our failure. It can be a lonely job. There may even be times where we don’t reap the fruits of our labor. Every leader needs two things: vision and strength. These two things are necessary for the leader to be successful, to fight through the negativity, and to stay committed in the face of a lack of expected success. We have to have vision for where we are leading our people, and we have to have the strength to get them there. 

I was reading through the Old Testament and got to the end of Deuteronomy. Something stuck out to me in Deut 34:7. It says, “Moses was 120 years old when he died. His eye was undimmed, and his vigor unabated.”  

This is something I never thought about–––Moses only got to see the promised land but he never got to go in, yet his vision (“eye undimmed”) and all of his strength (“vigor unabated”) went to getting them to the Promised Land.  How selfless, how heroic, how uncommon of him to be committed to a cause he would never get to partake in. He never reaped any of the rewards from his years of service. He only got to see what his heart longed for. 

I think the reality for many leaders today is that we are giving up before the end because we see that we aren’t going to get to partake in the fruit. We are focused on our reward and our success, instead of the true end goal of leading them to the One in which the ultimate promise is found, Jesus.  Moses knew his call and he knew the greater reason for him taking the people to the promised land. He knew the promise from God and believed in it. Do you believe in the promises given to you? Do you have the ultimate vision for where your people are going? If you do, it is worth all of your strength to get them there. I want to be like Moses in that I’m unselfish but so committed to the cause that I see the bigger picture. It’s not about me, my success, or my glory, but God’s. I think we often look to the heroes of the Bible and see their success, naturally we want to be like them, but we often fail to see their struggle. Again, Moses only saw the promised land.

We must learn to be ok with the struggle and toil because we know how the story will end. We must remember that God is on the throne, not us. Is there something in you that you need to lay down or put to death so that God can be glorified? For the sake of your people, refocus your attention on the call of God, His promises & devote your strength to them, even if you don’t get to celebrate in the earthly success.  Your reward isn’t earthly but eternal. 

-Neal Dose | Student Pastor