Most of us can look back across our lives and see seasons in which God was accomplishing specific things. There are times of growth, accomplishment, and clarity. There are times of weakness, loss, and trial. One aspect of the life of Moses that is intriguing is the sharp and neat division between the major seasons of his life and the lessons God was teaching him. Forty years are spent maturing as a Hebrew embedded into the royal society of Egypt. It is a season of discovering his identity and culminates in a crisis of choosing between God’s people and Pharoah’s benefits. Forty more years are spent in the wilderness of Midian caring for sheep and experiencing the deprivation of the comforts he had known as a young man. Moses had to choose contentment or bitterness. He had to lay down his pride. It is a crucible of humility culminating in the willingness to return to the land of Egypt and face down Pharoah in the name of Yahweh. A final forty years is spent at the head of the nation of Israel. Against the obstacles of foreign nations, harsh environments, long decades of wandering, attempted coups, and withering complaints, Moses guided God’s people. A covenant-making God and a covenant-breaking people were the backdrop for this season of leadership that culminated on the borders of the Promised Land.

Deuteronomy 34:7 tells us that even at the end of his life, the eyes of Moses had not dimmed. It is remarkable for a man of one hundred and twenty years to even be alive, much less still possess keen sight. It was a sustaining miracle of God to enable Moses to accomplish His calling. There is another kind of sight, however, that Moses was noted for. In Hebrews 11 we are told that Moses possessed eyes of faith that were always “looking to the reward” and “seeing Him who is unseen” (Hebrews 11:26-27). Whether it was Pharoah, famine, false friends, or foreign foes, Moses had plenty of real-world concerns that his keen eyes observed. By faith, however, Moses had learned not to let his eyes linger on the visible calamities, but made it the habit of his life to turn his soul’s gaze to unseen realities. It was much more than a glance at glory. He was always looking to the reward, he was always seeing Him who is unseen.

In just a couple weeks we will be turning in our study of Hebrews to chapter 12. There we will be called to imitate this pattern in Moses. We will be exhorted to fix our eyes on Jesus in order that we may endure in the race set before us. This is such an important and practical discipline in the life of a disciple of Jesus. To fix our eyes on Christ requires that we stop fixing our eyes on our circumstances. It demands that we acknowledge the unchanging truths of Christ’s victory over sin and death, His exaltation to the right hand of God the Father, and His ongoing priestly work towards us according to the New Covenant in His blood. It reminds us Who holds the future, and that all things must work for our good according to His promise (Romans 8:28). It motivates us to lay down our entangling sins, to replace our fears with confidence in God’s love, and to renew our strength in Him when we see our own strength at an end.

A glance at the Savior may remind us of all these benefits, but only fixing our eyes on Him will minister these benefits to our hearts. Let us not be shifty-eyed saints, but keep the gaze of our soul upon the same place the anchor of our soul lies – within the veil where Christ has entered.