Sweet Hour of Prayer, 4th stanza

by William W. Walford

• Sweet hour of prayer, sweet hour of prayer
• May I thy consolation share,
• Till, from Mount Pisgah’s lofty height,
• I view my home, and take my flight:
• This robe of flesh I’ll drop, and rise
• To seize the everlasting prize;
• And shout, while passing through the air,
• Farewell, farewell, sweet hour of prayer!

If you’ve ever wondered what the songwriter had in mind when he wrote those words, read Deuteronomy 34.

For a current view of the mountain range (via Google Maps), click here to open a new window. Don’t forget to zoom out a couple of notches and see where the promised land lay. If you have Google Earth installed, fly to Mount Nebo and look around.

Meditation Points:

• Moses was healthy at the time of his death. Would today’s media report that he died of “natural causes”?
• Moses was allowed to see the land, but he was not allowed to set foot in it. Children don’t appreciate “look, but don’t touch” commands. Do you?
• The nation mourned for 30 days after the death of Moses.
• To this day, nobody on earth knows where Moses was buried. If this were otherwise, some superstitious zealot would dig up the bones and encase them in glass and set them on display for all the world to adore. It’s better that we forget the messenger and remember his God.
• Jude 1:9 raises an interesting discussion about the body. It seems that the devil wanted it! Devils often want the remains of God’s people.
• Sometimes the old leadership must die so that the young will have no choice but to carry on. In what ways would it have been good to remove Moses and replace him with Joshua just as the nation is about to enter the land?
• Are you looking for a Bible promise, phrase or verse to memorize? Consider the following:
  • Every place that the sole of your foot shall tread upon, that have I given unto you (Joshua 1:3)
  • There shall not any man be able to stand before thee all the days of your life (Joshua 1:5 a)
  • As I was with Moses, so shall I be with thee (1:5 b)
  • I will not fail thee, nor forsake thee (1:5 c)
  • Be thou strong and very courageous (Joshua 1:7 a)
  • Turn not from it to the right hand or to the left (1:7 c)
  • That you may prosper whithersoever thou goest (1:7 d)
  • Meditate therein day and night (Joshua 1:8)
  • When reminded of their covenant to fight alongside their brothers, the men of Reuben, Gad and (half tribe of) Manasseh recommitted themselves with the promise that any man who shirked his duty would be put to death (Joshua 1:18). How many professing Christians are willing to earnestly contend for the faith (Jude 1:3)?

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A. Moses died when he was 120 years old (Deuteronomy 34:7). One wonders when he wrote Psalm 90.

1. Eternal God (1-2)
2. Temporal Man (3-11)
3. How to make the best of your time on earth (12-17)

Meditation Points:

• If the first two divisions of the Psalm present doctrinal truth, the third division presents the practical application. Faith without works is dead. What good is a doctrinal truth if believing it doesn’t affect your life?
• Most people do live to be 70 to 80 years old, don’t they. Of course there are exceptions in any one society and even among societies. For sure, old age is not something most people look forward to.
• Would you be satisfied with God’s mercy, and would that make you rejoice and be glad (Psalm 90:14)?
• God’s presence points out our secret sins (Psalm 90:8). If your secret sins are not being pointed out to you, you should wonder where God is.
• God, Who is not limited by space or time, views things differently from the way we, who are very limited by both space and time, see things (Psalm 90:4). For God, a millennium is like a day.

B. Jacob blessed his sons before he died; Moses blesses his people, under the names of Jacob’s sons, before he dies (Deuteronomy 33).

Meditation Points:

• Moses calls himself “the man of God” (Deuteronomy 33:1). Earlier it was said that he was very meek (Numbers 12:13). Are these statements contradictory?
• Read this chapter carefully, noting the names of Jacob’s sons.  Which name is missing? Some have suggested Joshua 19:1 as an explanation.
• In what sense is God’s law “fiery” (Deuteronomy 33:2)?
• Jeshurun (Deuteronomy 32:15; Deut. 33:5, 26; and Isaiah 44:2). A name for Israel?
• “Live and not die” (Deuteronomy 33:6). Many people haven’t died yet; but do they live?
• “Accept the work of his hands” (Deut. 33:11). Maybe we should pray this for ourselves.
• Do you “execute the justice of the Lord” (Deut. 33:21)?
• “There is none like unto the God of Jeshurun” (Deut 33:26), is there?
• And “who is like unto thee, O people saved by the Lord” (Deut. 33:29)?

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A Biblical Rock Song

• The Past (1-18)
  • God’s character
  • Israel’s rebellion
  • God’s goodness
  • Israel’s ingratitude
• The Future (19-43)
  • Judgments
  • Remorse
  • Grace
  • Blessings
• Moses (44-52)
  • His exhortation (44-47)
  • His end (48-52)

Meditation Points:

1. Can anyone with spiritual eyes miss the fact that God is the Rock of Israel? See also Romans 9:33; 1 Corinthians 10:4; I Peter 2:4-8.
2. Those who do not worship the true God do worship demons (Deuteronomy 32:17; 1 Corinthians 10:20-21)
3. Wisdom is to understand the consequences of one’s actions (Deuteronomy 32:29)
4. The LORD alone has the power of life and death (Deuteronomy 32:39)

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• The will of God (1-8)
  • God will go over before you (3)
  • God will destroy those nations (3)
  • God will do to them as He did to Sihon and Og (4)
  • God will give them up (5)
  • God will not fail you (6)
  • God will not forsake you ( 6)
  • God will be with you (8)
• The word of God (9-13; 22-30)
  • To be read publicly every seven years (9-13)
  • To be stored in the ark of the covenant (22-30)
• The wrath of God (14-21)
  • God knows that the people will rebel against Him (16)
  • When God withdraws from the people, their lives will be miserable and they will know the reason (17)
  • God knows their evil thoughts before they think them (21)

 Meditation Points:

1. How often do you read the Bible?
2. The Bible is for every man and woman and child, even foreigners-that they may know God and how to obey Him.
3. God inspires a song and orders that it be taught to future generations. What hymns and psalms and spiritual songs do you know?
4. Although God knows the thoughts and actions of sinful men in advance, God is not the author of sin and man is fully responsible for his ways.

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