Anticipation

It’s near the end of Deuteronomy, as God’s people prepare to enter the Promised Land, that Moses stands on Mount Nebo gazing into the land that would soon belong to the nation of Israel.

It’s been a long journey to reach this point. A journey filled with joy and triumph, heartache and loss, challenges and struggle. But finally, that journey is about to end; the people are at last ready to enter the land that was once promised to their ancestor Abraham.

Except Moses, who has been their leader since they left Egypt forty years before, will not enter the Promised Land with them. Moses gets only this moment on Mount Nebo as he gazes into the land that the people will soon enter fulfilling the promise of God from generations before.

I’ve found myself reflecting on what Moses might have felt in that moment. Regret that he wouldn’t be entering the land himself? Joy that the people’s wilderness journey would soon be over? Gratitude for the lessons learned along the way? Confidence that the God who brought them out of Egypt would now lead the people into the land once promised to their ancestors?

I imagine it would be some combination of all those things.

Or maybe I’m projecting my own emotions onto Moses.

Moses isn’t normally one of the characters with whom I identify in Scripture, but there’s something about this moment on Mount Nebo that has struck me in this season, a season where I’m looking ahead into a future that I myself will not enter.

It feels as if I am standing on my own Mount Nebo looking ahead to the future of First Presbyterian Church. I feel gratitude for the opportunity to love and be loved by First Presbyterian Church. I feel joy for all that God has done in and through us. I feel grief as I anticipate goodbyes to the people we’ve grown to love and the community that we have called home.

But I am also filled with anticipation. Anticipation not just for my future, but for the future of First Presbyterian Church. For all that God will do in you and through you in the years to come.

Indeed, I remain confident that God will finish the work that God has started.

Grace and peace,

Kimmy