Important
Lessons From The Example of Moses
July
12, 1905 Taught of God.
By Mrs. E. G. White.
The education received by Moses in the
court of Egypt, as the adopted son of the king's daughter, was very thorough.
Nothing was neglected that was necessary to make him a wise man, as the
Egyptians understood wisdom. But this
education did not fit him to do the work to which God had appointed him. In the wilds of Midian, Moses
spent forty years as a keeper of sheep. Apparently cut off forever from his
life's mission, he was receiving the discipline necessary for its fulfilment. As he led his flocks through the wilds of the mountains
and into the green pastures of the valleys, the
God of nature gave him the highest and grandest wisdom. In the school of nature, with Christ Himself for
teacher, he learned lessons of humility, meekness, faith, and trust, and daily
his soul was bound closer to God. In the solitudes of the mountains he learned
that which all the instruction received in the king's palace was unable to
impart to him,--simple, unwavering faith and
trust in the Lord. {ST, July 12, 1905 par.
1}
Prior to gaining this experience, Moses
thought that his education in the wisdom of Egypt had fully qualified him to
lead Israel from bondage. Had he not had the greatest advantages of the best
schools in the land? Was he not learned in all things necessary for a general
of armies to know? He felt that he was fully able to deliver Israel. {ST, July
12, 1905 par. 2}
Moses set about his work by trying to
obtain the favor of his people by redressing their
wrongs. He killed an Egyptian who was ill-treating an Israelite. In this he
manifested the spirit of him who was a murderer from the beginning, and proved
himself unfit to represent the God of mercy, love, and tenderness. He made a
miserable failure of his first attempt. Like many another, he immediately lost
confidence in God and turned, his back on his appointed work. He fled from the
wrath of Pharaoh. He concluded that because of his mistake, his sin in taking
the life of the Egyptian, God would not permit him to have any part in the work
of delivering His people from their cruel bondage. But the Lord permitted him to make this mistake in order
that He might be able to teach him the gentleness, goodness, longsuffering,
that is necessary for every worker for the Lord to possess. {ST, July 12, 1905 par. 3}
A knowledge of
the attributes of God's character can not be obtained
by means of the highest education in the most scientific schools. From the great Teacher alone is this knowledge obtained.
Only in the school of Christ are taught
effectively the lessons of meekness, lowliness, and reverence for sacred
things. {ST, July 12, 1905 par. 4}
Moses had been taught to expect praise and
flattery, because of his superior abilities; but now he was to learn a
different lesson. As a shepherd, he was
taught to care for the afflicted, to seek patiently for the straying, to bear
long with the unruly, to supply with loving solicitude the necessities of the
young and the feeble. {ST, July 12, 1905
par. 5}
As these phases of his character were
developed, he was drawn nearer to the great Shepherd. He became united to the
Holy One of Israel. Through humble prayer he held communion with the Father. He looked to the Highest for an education in spiritual
things and for an understanding of his duty as a faithful shepherd. So closely linked
with Heaven did he become that God talked with him face to face. {ST, July 12, 1905 par. 6}
Thus prepared, Moses was ready to heed the
call of God to exchange the shepherd's crook for the rod of authority; to leave
his flock of sheep to take the leadership of more than a million idolatrous,
rebellious people. But he was ever to depend
on his invisible Leader. Even as the rod was
simply an instrument in his hands, so he was to be a willing instrument in the
hands of Christ. {ST, July 12, 1905 par. 7}
Faith
moves forward in the strength and wisdom of God, not in human self-sufficiency. By faith Moses was enabled to press through
difficulties, and to overcome obstacles which seemed almost unsurmountable.
It was this implicit faith in God that made
Moses what he was. According to all that the
Lord had commanded, so did he. All the learning of the wise men could not make
him a channel for God's working. But when he lost his self-confidence, and,
realizing his helplessness, put his entire trust in God; when he was willing to
obey Heaven's commands, whether they seemed to human reason proper or not, then
the Lord could work mightily through him. {ST, July 12, 1905 par. 8}
By submitting to God's discipline, Moses
became a channel through which the Lord could work. He did not hesitate to
change his way for the Lord's way, even though it did lead him in strange,
untried paths. He placed a very low estimate
on his own ability to carry forward successfully the great work entrusted to
him. But he did not endeavor
to show the unreasonableness of God's commands, and the impossibility of
obeying them. To all human appearances, he
had started out in a hopeless undertaking; but he put his trust in Him with
whom all things are possible, and went forward without faltering. {ST, July 12, 1905 par. 9}
The faith of Moses puts to shame the
unbelief of many in our day who have had far greater opportunities for
obtaining a knowledge of God than Moses had. At the
command of God, Moses moved forward, though often it seemed that there was
nothing ahead for his feet to tread upon. More than a million people were
depending on him, and, step by step, day by day, he lead
them through the wilderness. It was not the education received in Egypt that
enabled Moses to triumph over his enemies, but an ever-abiding, unflinching
faith, which did not fail under the most trying circumstances. {ST, July 12,
1905 par. 10}
When Moses received a command from God to
do a certain thing he did it, without stopping to ask what the consequences
might be. Those
who refuse to move forward until they see every step plainly marked out before
them, will never accomplish much; but those who have unswerving trust in the Lord, and who
obey without questioning, will be successful workers. {ST, July 12, 1905 par. 11}
Today
God is not seeking for men of perfect education, but for men who will honor Him by rendering implicit obedience to His
requirements. There is no limit to the
usefulness of those who, putting self out of sight, make room for the working
of the Holy Spirit on their hearts, and live lives wholly consecrated to God,
enduring the discipline imposed by the Lord without complaining or fainting by
the way. God longs to reveal His salvation to the children of men; and if men
and women will remove the obstructions, He will pour forth the waters of salvation
in abundant streams through human channels. {ST, July 12, 1905 par. 12}
Many who are seeking efficiency for the
service of God by perfecting their education in the schools of the world will
find that they have failed of learning the more important lessons which the
Lord would teach them. By neglecting to
submit to the impressions of the Spirit, by refusing to live in obedience to
God's requirements, they have weakened their spiritual efficiency and lost
their ability to do successful work for the Lord. By absenting themselves from the school of Christ, they have
forgotten the voice of the divine Teacher, and He cannot direct their way. Men may acquire all the knowledge that human teachers can
impart, but God requires them to gain a higher wisdom than this. Like Moses,
they must learn meekness, lowliness, and distrust of self. They must learn that
in humanity alone there is no strength. Only by becoming partakers of the
divine nature can we gain efficiency for the work of God. {ST, July 12, 1905 par. 13}