Deuteronomy 34:7 Moses was a hundred and twenty years old when he died, yet his eyes were not weak nor his strength gone.

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Take a look at Deuteronomy 34:1. The first sentence says, “Then Moses climbed Mount Nebo from the plains of Moab to the top of Pisgah, across from Jericho.” According to extensive research (Wikipedia), it takes five to seven hours to climb Mount Nebo. 

God told Moses he had one last mountain to climb in Deuteronomy 32:48-50. There he would see the Promised Land. There he would die.

Gather these facts and hold onto them for a moment. 

What goes through your mind on a five-to-seven-hour hike when you know you will die at the end of the climb? 

What goes through your mind when you see from afar all you had worked for and lived for over the course of forty challenging years?

What goes through your mind when you can still see and you can still climb and you still have so much to contribute? 

The final words of Deuteronomy in 34:10-12 sum up Moses’ life:

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I will offer God my eyes and my physical capacity to do with as he sees fit. 

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Our Father, as Moses prayed in Psalm 90:17, “may the favor of the Lord our God rest on us; establish the work of our hands for us—yes, establish the work of our hands.” Psalm 91:14-16 sounds like the echo of your response:

      “Because he loves me,” says the LORD, “I will rescue him; 
         I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name. 
      He will call on me, and I will answer him; 
         I will be with him in trouble, 
         I will deliver him and honor him. 
      With long life I will satisfy him 
         and show him my salvation.”

However long you plan for us to live, whatever you plan for us to accomplish, however you seek to unfold your glory to us and through us, give us eyes to see and strength equal to our opportunities that we may honor you and die climbing. Amen.