Fall like Rain

Every teacher hopes their lessons fall on attentive ears. You hope students will take what you’ve taught them to heart and apply it to their knowledge and walk of life. Teachers want their lessons to be meaningful and helpful. After all, teachers become teachers to help their students grow, learn, and apply.

This was one of Moses’ final wishes for the children of Israel. As he prepares to ascend Mt. Nebo to die Moses gives the children of Israel one last lesson. The entire lesson can be found in Deuteronomy 32.

Moses begins his final lesson like this:

Listen, you heavens, and I will speak;
    hear, you earth, the words of my mouth.
Let my teaching fall like rain
    and my words descend like dew,
like showers on new grass,
    like abundant rain on tender plants.

Moses wanted the children of Israel to listen to his last lesson. He hoped they would absorb it like grass absorbs the dew and the rain. He knew his lesson was what they needed to hear to help them grow like new grass or baby plants need water.

What did Moses teach them? Moses reminded the Israelites to remember God and follow only Him. He reminds them that God is faithful and their rock of refuge. Moses reminds them of all the good God has done for them as well as reminds them of the punishment for disobedience. He tells them that God will fight for them and destroy their enemies.

Think of Moses’ last lesson as his final review. He is about to leave the Israelites and he wants them to remember all that they’ve learned and experienced throughout their time since Egypt. Moses doesn’t remind them of a single thing he has done for them or of all the hard work and time and years Moses has dedicated to them. He doesn’t make statements about “retirement”. His lesson focuses solely on God.

Only God’s teaching through Moses could help the children of Israel grow from the baby grass they were (since the old generation had died in the wilderness) to lush abundant fields of grass God intended for them to become. Moses didn’t come up with the curriculum but he was God’s primary teacher for decades. Moses’ last lesson is still available for us today. Like he did thousands of years ago, Moses would tell us:

🍎 Follow and worship only God.

🍎 Obey all of God’s commands.

🍎 Remember all that God has done for you.

🍎 Trust that God will take care of you.

These teachings will help us grow from baby trees to strong trees – able to weather any storm or drought – because God’s teachings will fall like rain upon any ear and heart willing to listen and obey. #GodsPupils #TheMasterTeacher