THE TWO LESSONS PREPARATORY TO SERVICE

^[p. 279] THE TWO LESSONS PREPARATORY TO SERVICE

This is the anniversary of the day when you first opened your eyes on this scene. From that hour to the end of your history here, your works will be reviewed at the judgment-seat of Christ. In the school of God, processes of instruction are adopted to effect a desired end, which to the casual observer bear no relation to the end desired.

Moses was being fitted for leading a nation out of bondage, while for many a long and weary year he tended to his flock in the land of Midian, enjoying at the same time the comforts of private life. One could hardly see how that kind of common work would fit him for the great moral eminence of judge and ruler of the thousands of Israel. No doubt he was often chafed, worried, and at his wit’s end; but the process continued, and he learned at last to think little of his own powers to effect any great revolution among men.

But though he had thoroughly learned this lesson, it is remarkable that he lacked a correct sense of what was due to God, in neglecting to circumcise his son; so that though the forty years in the wilderness, with all the exercises connected therewith, had taught him to distrust himself, yet it had not taught him what was due to God in his children, who typically expressed his own works. Nearness to God alone acquaints us with this, and insists on it.

You cannot overlook or annul the purpose of the Lord in sending you into this world. You may not have ascertained it very distinctly, but this only makes your education the less interesting, and in a way less successful. But if you have, you cannot fail to see that your present occupation in the wilderness is a necessary process, to convince you of the powerlessness of your own resources; so that you may emerge from your exile distrustful of your own powers to accomplish ^[p. 280] what you most desire or value; and at the same time, as you draw near to God, you will discover that everything derived from you must be circumcised, or divested of all that nature can boast in. “Whose praise is not of men, but of God” (Romans 2: 29). The Lord grant that you may seek from Him, and thus obtain, the double blessing vouchsafed to Moses.