How did Moses react to missing the Promised Land?
Num 27:12-13 Then the LORD said to Moses, "Go up to this mountain of Abarim, and see the land which I have given to the sons of Israel. (13) "When you have seen it, you too will be gathered to your people, as Aaron your brother was.
Israel you will recall was under a slave master back in Egypt and they were called to come out from there and also to go in and possess the land which God had promised them. This pictures the Christian life - we also have been brought out of bondage that we might enter into all that Christ has for us. God's purpose for the nation of Israel was always to take them into the land, which is what His will also is for us as Christians. We have looked at the fact that they spent 40 years going around and around the back side of the desert having the same old issues, problems and defeats and how God actually rejected them as a nation and they suffered the consequences of unbelief. When you get to this point, though Moses himself is included with the nation's rejection, he is called to go up and view the land. He is allowed to see it but he is not allowed to go in. Of all the people that really deserved to go in you would think it would be Moses! He had numerous attacks upon his leadership. The nation was always saying to one another 'Let's get rid of him and appoint another and get back to Egypt'. He bore all this, so you would think that he would be allowed into the land, but he wasn't. However, God said to him 'I do want you to go up and have a sneak peak at the land before I gather you to your people. When I was thinking about that, I thought that from a natural point of view this would have been a really hard thing for Moses. What do we do at times when God puts us aside... When all of the dreams that we may have had come to an end? Remember that Moses had preached about Canaan for 40 years, and told them about God's promises for them as a nation so in his heart he would have been longing to go into the land and taste of the fruit and to see God work in a different way amongst the nation. Yet here he is, with all of his hopes dashed. This is so true of many of us when the things that we had hoped for actually don't come to pass and God has different ideas for us. Now I have never been told like Moses, pack your bags, you are coming home. But many saints have. Whether they are young or old, in some way tragedy has come upon them or they have come back from the doctor saying I have got such and such a disease or I have got this amount of time to live. It is then that they realize that all of things that they lived for, dreams of maybe being a grandparent, seeing their children's children, or doing the things that they had hoped for were not going to come to fruition. I believe that Moses may have felt like that, but yet, God had other plans for this saint.
How Moses reacts is quite amazing. He is so close to entering the land but yet he is given this command 'I want you to go and view the land, you can see it, but you are going to be gathered to your people as your brother Aaron was gathered.' It would have been a hard thing for Moses to actually do. It would have been a really great trial, I believe, on the self- life of Moses. How would he react? Do you remember in scripture, the same thing happened to Hezekiah? The prophet came to him and said 'I want you to put your house in order, you are going home, and you are going to be resting with your fathers.' Hezekiah had a bit of a pity party and said 'Woe is me, it's not fair, I have been a good King and I have done this and this and this' and God actually granted him another 15 years. But when you look at Hezekiah's life in the 15 years that were granted to him, they were not good years. He should have gone when he was told to. And I think that little picture is in the scriptures just to remind us that though God's plans purposes are often a mystery to us, He knows what He is doing. If our time is up, our time is up. Our lives are in the hands of the Lord and He is the One that controls all these things.
From: Missing the Promised Land - The Death of Moses