My Journey

by Michael Roth

It is hard for me to imagine how disappointing it must have been for Moses to not be allowed to complete the one final step in his life’s work. He had lead the children of Israel through the wilderness for 40 years, and yet because of his failing, he had to give up his greatest dream. And yet in the end he was rewarded with something far better. That is something that I need to remember, that even though God often leads us in a far different direction than we would at the time choose, in the larger scheme of things we can have faith that we will end up far better off by following God’s plan.

This provides a clear description that there was only ever one way for salvation; by faith in Christ. The entire sanctuary and sacrifice system was set up so that people could understand the ultimate plan of salvation, and have faith that its final fulfillment would eventually be carried out.

The story of Moses being allowed to see the promised land just before he died, reminds me greatly of a part of my own spiritual journey. I was extremely sick, and extremely discouraged. It’s not like I had a vision or anything, and yet I felt the presence of God in a way that I never have before or since. There was at that time no doubt in my mind that if I were to die, the next thing I would see would be Christ coming to take me home. At many times in my life, however, I have been far less sure. I seem at times to be so lacking in faith.

Of course, I often have a weirdly comforting thought that regardless of if I live or die for eternity, I will be doing my part to make the universe a better place.

[Michael’s reaction to reading Patriarchs and Prophets, Chapter 43: The death of Moses. Class assignment in 2011.]