God's Blessing, Our Joy

There's something profoundly moving about a leader's final words. When someone who has guided, protected, and shepherded a people for decades approaches the end of their journey, what they choose to say reveals the true condition of their heart.

In Deuteronomy 33, we encounter Moses at precisely such a moment. He's been told to climb Mount Nebo, where he will see the Promised Land from a distance but not enter it. His life is ending. His leadership is concluding. And in this moment, he could have been bitter, resentful, or focused entirely on his own disappointment.

Instead, Moses turns to bless the people of Israel.

What makes this blessing remarkable is its selflessness. Moses had spent forty years leading a stubborn, rebellious people through the wilderness. His favorite descriptor for them throughout Deuteronomy? "Stiff-necked." They complained constantly. They resisted God's commands. They tested Moses' patience at every turn.

But instead, Moses looked back at the nation spread before him and prayed for God's blessing upon them.

This is the heart of someone who has been shaped by God—someone who desires God's blessing for others as much as, or even more than, for themselves. It's a rare quality, both then and now.

There Is No God Like Ours
Moses' blessing opens with a powerful reminder of God's uniqueness. He recalls the mountains where God demonstrated His power and care—Sinai, Seir, Paran. These weren't random geographical markers; they were monuments to God's faithfulness during Israel's wilderness journey.

Moses declares that the Lord became their king when they entered covenant with Him. This wasn't just any deity—this was the God who made His will crystal clear to His people. Every other nation on earth was scrambling to understand what their gods wanted, trying desperately to appease angry deities. But Israel's God had spoken plainly: "This is what I call you to. This is who I am."

No other god helped their people this way. No other god was benevolent in this manner. But Israel's God? He was their dwelling place. Underneath were the everlasting arms—stable, steadfast, faithful, never-ending, never-ceasing, never-shaking.

This God thrust out enemies before them. This God provided grain and wine. This God was the shield of their help and the sword of their triumph.

And There Is No People Like His
The uniqueness of Israel wasn't rooted in anything special about them. If you looked at Israel objectively, they were just like every other nation—stubborn, rebellious, selfish, self-exalting. They wanted a god to be good to them, but they struggled to be faithful in return.

What made Israel unique was whose they were and what their God had done for them.

"Happy are you, O Israel! Who is like you, a people saved by the Lord?"

Their joy, their identity, their very existence as a people was rooted entirely in God's character and His providential care. They were who they were because of who God was.

Blessings Upon the Tribes
As Moses blessed each individual tribe, he wasn't inventing new promises. He was praying that God would fulfill what He had already pledged. For Reuben, he prayed for perseverance. For Judah, protection. For Levi, priestly service. For Joseph, abundant blessing. For Benjamin, special presence.

Each blessing reflected Moses' desire for God's continued faithfulness—His presence, power, protection, and provision.

The Prayer That Changes Everything

These weren't prophetic declarations spoken with authority. They were prayerful petitions: "God, would you make this happen for these people?" Moses was interceding, asking God to bless them even though he knew their stubbornness, even though he wouldn't share in the blessing himself.

How often do we pray for God's blessing on others as fervently as we pray for ourselves? How often do we celebrate when friends succeed, even when we feel left behind? How often do we genuinely desire God's best for people who frustrate us?

Consider this: you might be where you are today not because you figured everything out, but because someone prayed for you. Someone interceded on your behalf. Someone asked God to work in your life, and He answered. And even if you can't identify who prayed for you, you can still be that person for someone else.

Our Greater Inheritance
While Moses' blessing was powerful, we have received something even greater. Moses was a man of God, raised to prominence and used powerfully in redemption's story. But Moses is not Jesus.

Jesus is the one who fulfilled God's law perfectly. Jesus is the one who lived sinlessly and earned His place in the promised land. Jesus is the one who ensures all who are His are kept by Him.

Israel received promises of physical blessings in a physical land. We have received every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms. We have been adopted, forgiven, redeemed, shown the mind of God, and made inheritors of God's gifts. We have been delivered from the domain of darkness and transferred to the kingdom of God's beloved Son.

Jesus earned the blessings and willingly took the curse. We earned the curse and by inheritance now receive the blessings.

Living in the Blessing
For now, our blessings are primarily spiritual. God will provide what we need, though it won't always be what we want or the abundance we long for. But we will always have exactly what He intends us to have.

But there will be a day when Christ returns. We will live with our God, who is our King, forever and ever in the place He's prepared for us. We will rejoice in the abundance that His power has provided.

Because He is our God, there is no one like Him. And because He's our God, there is no one like us. We have every reason to rejoice in His providential care, now fulfilled and secured in Christ.