Date: December 1940Place: UnrecordedScripture Reading: Exo. 3
When Moses was in Egypt, he was involved in two cases of quarreling (Exo. 2:11-14). Through these two incidents, God showed him that trusting in the flesh, in carnality, or in man's power was useless. These two matters became his snares, and Pharaoh sought his life. Because he wanted to escape from Pharaoh, he went to the land of the Midianites and shepherded the flock of his father-in-law, Jethro. He passed through many humble, dry, and monotonous days while he was there. He spent forty silent years learning lessons before God and receiving dealings from His hands.
Thank God that one day God decided that Moses could be used. Moses was no longer like the man he was forty years ago, full of the flesh and his own energy, ability, and zeal, but useless in God's hand. Moses had become very meek. There was no more fleshly or natural energy in him, and he no longer trusted in himself. God was now able to use him, and He appeared to him on Mount Horeb and called him from a burning bush. I believe that Moses never dreamed that God would call him; he never dreamed that God would grant a revelation to him. On that day he took his father-in-law's flock to the wilderness, and as he had always done, he went to God's mount, Mount Horeb. I do not know whether he heard God's speaking during his morning watch or if he even had a morning watch. I do not know whether he received a vision in his room that morning, but I believe that he did not receive anything. It was a most common morning, a morning that was the same as any other morning. But that day turned out to be the greatest day in Moses' spiritual history; it was a turning point in his life. From that day on, his path was different. He received a new commission for a new work. He was called by God to bring the Israelites out of Egypt into a good and great land, a land flowing with milk and honey, on whose mount the Israelites would serve their God.
This is the experience of many Christians today. God deals with many Christians in the same way today. Many think that they are capable, gifted, and powerful. They think they can be zealous for God, work for God, and help God. But one day they are brought face to face with reality and see that they have done nothing but useless works. All of their endeavors are nothing but failures. Then they will think that they have failed. They will change their direction, put everything aside, caring only to live a self-contented and unambitious life, drearily tending the flock in the wilderness. All these are part of God's dealing, the purpose of which is to destroy the natural man.
While Moses was in Pharaoh's palace, he learned all the wisdom of the Egyptians and was powerful in his words and works (Acts 7:22). But God did not speak to him or call him at that time. God waited until Moses had gone into the wilderness and endured a long period of shepherding before He appeared to him and spoke to him. Only after such a long period of time did the Lord deem that the time was ripe to speak to man.
Today many people are living in their "palaces," and it is useless for the Lord to speak to them. When the Lord says one word, they rejoin with ten words. When the Lord speaks to them about the east, they speak to the Lord about the west. It seems as if they are more capable and able than the Lord. I have no way to speak to many brothers and sisters because they cannot and will not listen. Such ones need to be dealt with by time. Although they have wasted many days, it is still not too late for them to turn. According to man, Moses' forty years silently passed without anything happening. But to God, these forty years were an indispensable "waste."
Exodus 3:2 says, "And the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush: and he looked, and, behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed." This verse says "behold." When a man thinks that he is qualified to work for the Lord, that is often not the right time for him to do anything. God often calls man when he least expects it. God called David out of the sheepcote while he was following the sheep (2 Sam. 7:8). He called Gideon while he was threshing wheat (Judg. 6:11-23). He called Samuel while he was sleeping (1 Sam. 3:3-10). The case of Saul of Tarsus was even more dramatic; he was called by the Lord while he was opposing and persecuting Him (Acts 9:1-16).
This is why Paul said, "So then it is not of him who wills, nor of him who runs, but of God who shows mercy" (Rom. 9:16). Willing refers to the resolve of the heart, whereas running refers to man's outward acts, which are performed by his own strength. Neither has any place in God's calling and selection. God speaks to man from the bush. Speaking from the bush means that God often speaks to us through very common things. He does not necessarily speak to us through the preaching of a pastor in the sanctuary. I am not saying that God never speaks to us through others' preaching, but I am saying that He may not always do this.
Before God spoke from the bush, there was first a burning and shining fire in the bush. When Moses saw this, he turned aside to see it, and then God spoke to him. May the Lord bring us to the point where He can speak to us. Today He is still speaking from the bush. He speaks to us from our daily life and from all the matters that we confront daily. May we all hear His speaking.
