After forty years in the desert, the Israelites finally came to the door of the Promised Land. But God said, “Before you go in, there needs to be a change in leadership. Moses was at the end of his life … and the nation of God was facing many new challenges. Before Moses passed the leadership role to Joshua, he wanted to remind the people of their covenant with God.

Moses knew the people well. He warned them that when they settled into their new houses and got comfortable in their new land, they would forget God—who had provided it all. He knew these people would once again grow complacent and self-reliant and less aware of God's presence—and less willing to keep their agreement with God.

In the midst of their excitement about their new homeland, Moses was deeply concerned about their ability to remember who they belonged to.

Moses tried to protect them one last time by preaching to them passionate sermons, reminding them of God's deliverance, singing a song of hope, blessing their journey and asking them to renew their covenant with God. Listen to his words in Deuteronomy 30:15-20….

¹⁵"See, I have set before you today life and prosperity, and death and adversity; ¹⁶in that I command you today to love the LORD your God, to walk in His ways and to keep His commandments and His statutes and His judgments, that you may live and multiply, and that the LORD your God may bless you in the land where you are entering to possess it.

¹⁷"But if your heart turns away and you will not obey, but are drawn away and worship other gods and serve them, ¹⁸I declare to you today that you shall surely perish. You will not prolong your days in the land where you are crossing the Jordan to enter and possess it.

¹⁹"I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. So choose life in order that you may live, you and your descendants, ²⁰by loving the LORD your God, by obeying His voice, and by holding fast to Him; for this is your life and the length of your days, that you may live in the land which the LORD swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give them."

Then, after Moses blessed each of the twelve families of Israel, he hiked his last mountain—this time Mount Nebo. From here, Moses could see beyond the Jordan River into the fertile land that awaited them.

After a lifetime of following the Lord on earth, Moses died in the arms of God. He bypassed the Promised Land and went straight home to God.

Well, the job of leading God's people fell to Joshua. And he loved God with all his heart. And as Joshua led Israel into the land, God held back the waters of the Jordan River so His people could cross on dry land… just as He’d done 40 years earlier when they crossed the Red Sea.

Joshua had them build a memorial at Gilgal to remind them of God's power and provision. They stacked up twelve rocks … one for each tribe … to remind themselves about how God had brought them out of Egypt, through the desert, across the Jordan, and into this new place they would now call home.

And for as long as Joshua lived, the people were faithful to God and they remembered their promise to Him. Joshua paid attention to Moses… and he chose life.

The last words of Moses contained both promises and warnings, blessings and curses—promises of God's bounty and protection… promises of a land full of cities and fields for the taking… promises of a centuries-old dream about to be fulfilled.

But for this fickle nation, reaching the promised land held a new threat to their trust in God. God would be faithful, but once they became comfortable in their new land, would they remain faithful to him?

Well, the answer is ‘no’. They did not stay faithful to God. Whenever they got comfortable, it’s almost like they got bored … and they strayed from God and started worshiping idols.

I wonder sometimes if we’re just like Israel. When we're comfortable, are we as faithful? Just speaking for myself, I find the times when I’m closest to God are the times when I am most uncomfortable in this life.

I think it’s a good idea for us to be thankful for the times in our lives when we were uncomfortable—times when we turned to God and allowed Him to shoulder our burdens and carry us through to the Promised Land.