Read Matthew 17:1–13.
In the summer of 1977, the notorious serial killer “Son of Sam” brought fear and chaos to the streets of New York City. When apprehended, the murderer turned out to be a very disturbed, demonically influenced postal worker named David Berkowitz. He was sentenced to life in prison, but something happened to Berkowitz in that New York State penitentiary: he met Jesus.
Now, the “Son of Sam” goes by the moniker “Son of Hope,” and he lives to tell everyone about the Savior who changed his life. It can be difficult to believe such transformation is possible, but no one’s story is over until God says it is.
Take, for example, the story of Moses. When Moses disobeyed God, striking a rock to bring forth water, rather than speaking to it, the Lord told him, “Because you did not trust in me enough to honor me as holy in the sight of the Israelites, you will not bring this community into the land I give them” (Numbers 20:12). And God was true to His word. It was Joshua, not Moses, who brought the Israelites into the promised land.
But Moses’ story wasn’t over. Centuries later, when God’s promises to the people of Israel were being fulfilled in Jesus, His Son, God gave Moses a special honor: “There [Jesus] was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and his clothes became as white as the light. Just then there appeared before them Moses and Elijah, talking with Jesus” (Matthew 17:2–3). Moses got to be there as Jesus shone with God’s glory—deep within in the promised land. Moses didn’t bring the people of Israel into the land, but God did let him stand on the ground he had waited forty years of his life to receive, even as he talked with the Savior he had longed to meet.
Pages of Joy 