Moses just can't seem to get over it

Okay, hubby and I are still in Deuteronomy. Just finished chapter six. And other than the other stuff Moses keeps reminding folks of...the main one is how often he reminds the people that because of their actions, the Lord didn't allow him to go into the promised land. He's almost obsessed with it. It's like every paragraph he mentions it. I feel so sad about it. To have journeyed around for 40 years in the wilderness -- and when you think of it, it's like he spent 80 years in the wilderness total-- and to not be allowed to gain the prize because of one stupid mistake. And God's merciless about it.

Then there's the section where the people say: Let not God speak with us.

A request made by the Jewish people for themselves and their descendants...and which God answered, but with a sad, "I wish they wanted to." As Moses says, no other nation in the rest of the world has ever heard God speak to them directly. And the nation to which He so wanted to show Himself to...just couldn't bear it. Sure it's terrifying...and it's safest for a sinful person living without the grace found in Christ to have prophets through whom God speaks to...but still, what a birthright to give up! Sad.

-C