Thursday, July 31, 2025
Scripture Readings
- Primary Reading: Deuteronomy 33-34
- Secondary Reading: Psalms 88
Key Verse
Deuteronomy 33:21 — “And he provided the first part for himself, because there, in a portion of the lawgiver, was he seated; and he came with the heads of the people, he executed the justice of the LORD, and his judgments with Israel.”
Devotional Thought
Moses climbs the mountain one last time. On the plains of Moab, with the Promised Land spread before him, the aged prophet gathers Israel and pronounces a blessing over each tribe — Reuben, Judah, Levi, Benjamin, Joseph, and all the rest — before climbing Nebo to die. It is a scene both tender and severe. The man who met God face to face, whose eye was not dim nor his natural force abated at a hundred and twenty years, is buried by God’s own hand in a grave no one has ever found. The eternal God had been his refuge, and underneath were the everlasting arms, right to the very end.
Notice what Moses does with his final strength: he blesses. He does not curse the people who grumbled against him for forty years, nor the generation that wandered with him. He speaks of the precious things of heaven, of dew and deep springs, of iron and brass shoes and strength that matches the days. “As thy days, so shall thy strength be” — that promise was not for an easy life, but for a life lived in the presence of a God who rides upon the heavens in our help. Moses, who could not enter the land himself, still spoke life over those who would.
Now set beside this the cry of Psalm 88, the darkest lament in the Psalter. Here is a soul full of troubles, counted with those who go down to the pit, acquaintance and friend put far away into darkness. The psalmist does not resolve into praise; he ends in the deeps. And yet he still cries, day and night, to the God of his salvation. Even in the darkness, he addresses God as his salvation.
There is a July honesty here for anyone who has stood at a graveside or faced a season that would not lift. Moses died outside the land he had spent his life seeking. The psalmist ends without an answer. But neither ends without God. The everlasting arms are underneath even the valley of Moab, even the lowest pit. And on this side of the cross, we know the One who went down into the grave itself and rose, so that neither death nor darkness has the final word over those who are held in His hand.
Reflection
- Moses blessed the tribes even though he would not enter the land with them. What would it look like for you to speak blessing over those who will walk into seasons you yourself will not share?
- Psalm 88 ends in darkness without resolution, yet the psalmist keeps crying to “the God of my salvation.” When your prayers seem unanswered, what keeps you still addressing God as your salvation?
Prayer
O Lord God of our salvation, we cry to You day and night, and we ask that our prayer would come before You. You are the eternal God, our refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms. When our souls are full of troubles and the darkness presses close, hold us still. Teach us, like Moses, to bless rather than curse, and to trust that as our days are, so shall our strength be. You who buried Your servant with Your own hand will not abandon us in the grave. Keep us in Your hand until we see the land You have promised, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Psalm Verse
Psalms 88:1 — “O lord God of my salvation, I have cried day and night before thee:”