Fairness or Grace - All The LORD is near Daily Devotionals for 2026

I pray, let me cross over and see the good land beyond the Jordan.
Deuteronomy 3:25

Fairness or Grace
Have you ever had an expectation that has been dashed? You thought, "Surely this was God's will for me—it's just not fair!" God does not act on the principle of "fairness," however, for if He did, as sinners we all would be lost forever; rather, He operates on the principle of sovereign grace.

Just before Israel was about to leave the wilderness and go into the promised land, Moses prayed, "Let me cross over and see the good land" (Dt. 3:25). Jehovah's answer to him was, "Enough of that! Speak no more to Me of this matter" (v. 26). God had told him long before this that he would not enter the land (Num. 20:12; Dt. 1:37). Moses did not complain about this but, looking at it from a human perspective, he had been "faithful," and had borne a rebellious people; so was it really fair that he could not enter the land (Heb. 3:5; 11:25-26)?

He would not "cross over" into Canaan, but God would let him "see the good land." Jehovah told him to go up to the top of Pisgah and see the land from where he could view it without entering in (Dt. 3:27). Mount Pisgah would foreshadow a greater event in the life of Moses.

Some 1,500 years after the events in Deuteronomy, we see Moses standing on another mountain (Lk. 9:29-31), but this time he was within the boundaries of the promised land. On the Mount of Transfiguration, Moses was not viewing "the land" but speaking with Christ about His imminent death in Jerusalem. Blessed privilege! He had just spent 1,500 years in heaven, but now he was standing "in the land" intimately conversing with Jehovah! The Lord had a plan for Moses all along.