Don’t underestimate the influence of an Elijah on an Elisha, a Moses on a Joshua, or a Paul on a Timothy.
It’s good to remember that God’s work is, well, God’s work! Paul longed to reach the Jews for Christ, but God sent him to the Gentiles. David’s chief desire, for which he took an early retirement from being king, was to build the Temple. And Moses lived most of his life working toward the goal of leading God’s people into Canaan. No, no, and no. And yet… Paul wrote, “My heart’s desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they may be saved” (Rom 10:1). But he could see, as “an apostle to the Gentiles,” that through Gentiles being saved, he might “provoke to jealousy those who are my flesh and save some of them” (11:13-14). The more Gentiles saved, the more Jews would be moved to desire the One they saw the Gentile Christians enjoying! And David? “God said to me, ‘You shall not build a house for My name, because you have been a man of war’” (1 Chron 28:3). Yet he was allowed to gather the building materials, arrange the music, organize the choirs, and compile the Psalter for it. Better still, he wrote, “I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever” (Ps 23:6), the real house! What about Moses? He was told in no uncertain terms, “You shall not cross over this Jordan.” As well, he was given a very difficult project: “Command Joshua, and encourage him and strengthen him; for he shall go over” (Deut 3:27-28). I can’t go over, but encourage my replacement, who will? Obviously Moses must have done a good job of it, so good that the Lord brought him into the Land—finally—to encourage the other Joshua, Jesus, as He went to effect the far greater exodus at Calvary. Yes, Moses made it in, not with murmuring Israelites, but with the Son of God! Sometimes God doesn’t give what we ask, but what we actually long for.