"The Lord said to Moses, “Go up into this mountain of Abarim and see the land that I have given to the people of Israel. 13 When you have seen it, you also shall be gathered to your people, as your brother Aaron was, 14 because you rebelled against my word in the wilderness of Zin when the congregation quarreled, failing to uphold me as holy at the waters before their eyes.” (These are the waters of Meribah of Kadesh in the wilderness of Zin.)"
Numbers 27:12-14
This word about Moses stands in marked contrast to that about Zelophehad's daughters. They are promised an inheritance in the land, but Moses is excluded. The reference in 14 is to what happened in chapter 20, when Moses 'spake unadvisedly with his lips' (Psalm 106: 32, 33).For further elaboration of the incident, see Deuteronomy 3:2328, also Deuteronomy 32: 4852. There is, of course, no question of Moses being excluded from the blessings of eternal life but his illconsidered irritation and anger at the waters of Meribah was a costly mistake for him, in that it excluded him from the privileges of leading Israel into the Promised Land. Let us learn from this that the sins of the saints, though they will never make them forfeit eternal life, will affect their reward, affect, too, their continuing usefulness and serviceableness for God. God is faithful to Himself, and takes His own grace seriously. This stands in the Scriptures as a timely warning to all who believe on Him that we may never presume upon the grace of God. Carelessness and neglectfulness in spiritual things, although forgiven, may cost the children of God very dear. It is very solemn to realise that in the Scriptural record there are several cases of servants of God, honoured and owned of Him in the most signal kind of way, falling sadly and tragically in the later days of their lives Noah, Moses, David, Solomon. If this has a lesson for us, it is that there are dangers concealed in the spiritual life for those who have advanced beyond the elementary stages and have been going on faithfully and steadily for long enough. Well might the prophet pray, 'Revive Thy work in the midst of the years' the middle years, when we are at the height of our powers; there is the danger point.