Moses died, but the work of the Most High was incomplete. This is, Israel was still in the desert waiting for the moment to conquer Canaan. For this to happen, it was necessary to have a successor.
Servants are buried, but God’s dreams will never be buried! What He determines must be fulfilled, and, for this reason, He chooses and enables people. This can be seen in the way Moses was removed to give way for Joshua, who was assigned to complete the task.
Between one verse and another, in the book of Joshua (1.1-2), we can see the contrast between him and Moses. Joshua had faithfully served in the trenches of the Israeli army. Besides this, he was a good strategist, fighter and Moses’ brave and faithful assistant. All these qualities, however, only allowed him obtain the modest title of “the servant of Moses” for some time.
On the other hand, Moses was elevated to the high post of “servant of the Lord” by God Almighty, Himself. Though Moses had died physically, he was still alive to God, so His regard and consideration remained the same. For this reason, even after his work on earth was finished, the title remained with him.
When you are faithful to God until the end, there is no chance of becoming an ex-servant. Loyalty to Him attributes such honor that it guarantees eternal designation!
This is very different from what happens in secular media. People can occupy the most important executive, legislature or judiciary positions, but at any given moment, “their time will come to an end”. They can enjoy prestige, respect and privileges; however, all these things come with an expiration date.
In other words, when it comes to this world, whether you are a good or bad servant, one day you will become an “ex” and will be forgotten even by your close friends. There are abundant examples: former presidents, former ministers, former senators, former professional players, former artists, etc.
In many cases, the pain of losing a title and its granted privileges is so great that the person feels frustrated, to the point where he can no longer find pleasure in life. And so, he will always seek to create a situation to return to the spotlight and somehow draw attention to himself.
This is inevitable in society, but it is an option when it comes to the spiritual context. This is, to stop belonging to God is the result of a bad decision made by man.
This even happened in heaven with Lucifer, who went from being an “anointed cherub”, full of light, to a fallen angel and carrier of thick darkness. Scripture shows us that he was the first “ex-servant” of God. Today, Satan’s job is to hurt the Almighty by hurting His creations.
Therefore, those who have the privilege of serving in the Work of God, regardless of their responsibility, should take care of their spiritual life, because the worst condition for a man is being an “ex” of the Sovereign.
After reading this, I wonder why would a righteous man worry about receiving applause and recognition from this ephemeral world, when he already has an incomparably greater tribute of glory: having God refer to him as “My servant”?
The Almighty has perfect discernment of who is serving man and who is serving Him. He knows those who enjoy the benefits of a position and those who consider honoring Him their priority. The Lord knows better than anyone else how to reward those who carry the pain of this difficult, but extraordinary work.
To finish, Joshua did not spend the rest of his life with the title of “the servant of Moses”. The faithfulness and fear of this man of faith also provided him with the title “servant of the Lord”. However, he only managed this by meditating and obeying the Sacred Teachings.