How the year is going! Only another month after this and then it will be over. Perhaps Moses felt the same way when he called all the people together on that first day of the month: "It came to pass in the fortieth year, in the eleventh month... that Moses spake unto the children of Israel, according unto all that the LORD had given him in commandment unto them." Deut. 1:33And it came to pass in the fortieth year, in the eleventh month, on the first day of the month, that Moses spake unto the children of Israel, according unto all that the Lord had given him in commandment unto them; (Deuteronomy 1:3).
For forty years he had been their leader as, guided by God's pillar of cloud, they had wandered up and down the wilderness toward the land which He had promised. Now they were just at the edge of it; only the Jordan remained to be crossed. "Forty years," God had said the Israelites must journey; now the last year was almost ended.
But Moses knew more; he knew that he must die before the children of Israel got into the land; this year would be his last also. So he called the people together to tell them once again all that God had commanded him to let them know. Knowing how soon he must leave them, Moses had only one thing to give them—God's Word. It had been his guide in life; it was what he trusted in death.
There is nothing but the word of God for you or me to trust in either: God's word about ourselves, that we are bad, thoroughly bad, and lost; God's word about Himself—that in spite of our sins He loved us so much that He gave the Lord Jesus to die for those sins, to be punished instead of us.
The same word warns us that the Savior will one day be the Judge of all who refuse to put their trust in Him, for "the Father... hath given Him authority to execute judgment also, because He is the Son of man." John 5:26, 2726For as the Father hath life in himself; so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself; 27And hath given him authority to execute judgment also, because he is the Son of man. (John 5:26‑27).
Now, in this eleventh month, take your Bible—God's Word—read it, believe it, and trust in the Savior while it is still the day of salvation.