“I AM COME DOWN TO DELIVER.”
By G.
WHEN the Lord takes hold of any work, something practical is accomplished. There is power in His Word and wisdom in His way, and in His time the work goes on in spite of opposition. The promise that Israel should be brought out of Egypt was made to Abraham long before Jacob was born. The Lord knew that Abraham’s posterity would bring affliction upon themselves by their apostasy, and that only a long and rigorous service to their heathen masters would cause them to return to the God of their fathers. But God’s time to help erring man is when the erring ones have become willing to be helped. So the Lord patiently waited such a time for the deliverance of Israel. On His part everything was timed for that condition, even to having a leader in readiness. There were all the time witnesses for the Lord in Israel, faithful ones who did not depart from the truth; but the masses were influenced by their surroundings, and had not faith to believe that there was anything better within their reach. The father and mother of Moses had faith in God. They knew that Moses was destined to be a leader of the Lord’s people; and Moses knew it also. But the people as a whole “understood not.” When Moses was forty years old, he thought the time had come for him to enter upon the work of delivering his people. The Lord had not told him this was the time, but he reasoned from human appearances. He was of mature age; he had been educated in “all the wisdom of the Egyptians,” and was renowned for his achievements “in words and in deeds.” He considered himself equipped for the leadership, and expected to find the Israelites prepared to co-operate in all his plans. But Moses’ first effort was a failure, for God was not in it. Moses had reckoned without the Lord as a director, evidently expecting the heavenly blessing on his own efforts. But the expected blessing did not come, and his career as a self-imposed deliverer was not only short, but disastrous, from a human standpoint. The sequel disclosed Moses as a fugitive from Egypt, and engaged as a shepherd in Midian. So much for human effort when unaccompanied by the co-operation of heaven. Moses was fortunate to even escape with his life. This part of the transaction was in the providence of God. Then Moses began to be taught of God in the way of humility and of faith. His experience took away his confidence in himself, and he began to unlearn some things that he had learned amiss. The following extract from the work entitled, “Patriarch’s and ‘Prophets’ (published at this office), is a lucid exposition of the situation:— Moses was not prepared for his great work. He had yet to learn the same lesson of faith that Abraham and Jacob had been taught,—not to rely upon human strength or wisdom, but upon the power of God for the fulfilment of His promises. And there were other lessons that, amid the solitude of the mountains, Moses was to receive. In the school of self-denial and hardship he was to learn patience, to temper his passions. Before he could govern wisely, he must be trained to obey. His own heart must be fully in harmony with God, before he could teach the knowledge of His will to Israel. By his own experience he must be prepared to exercise a fatherly care over all who needed his help. Man would have dispensed with that long period of toil and obscurity, deeming it a great loss of time. But Infinite Wisdom called him who was to become the leader of His people, to spend forty years in the humble work of a shepherd. The habits of caretaking, of self-forgetfulness, and tender solicitude for his flock, thus developed, would prepare him to become the compassionate, long-suffering shepherd of Israel. No advantage that human training or culture could bestow, could be a substitute for this experience. But Moses’ long course in the industrial school of God was now at an end. He had graduated as the meekest man in all the earth. Num. 12:3. Israel’s affliction had brought them to a point where it was possible for God’s overtures of mercy to reach them. The time had come for God Himself to take hold of the work of deliverance, and He appeared to Moses to commission him as visible leader in the great work. Moses met many obstacles, but faith in the wisdom and power of God was sufficient in every emergency. He had been assured of God’s presence, and never found it lacking. When the Lord said, “I am come down to deliver,” it meant success. And so it must be with every other feature of His work. When He takes hold—for He knows just when—then the work will be accomplished. The thing for man to study is to be ready, and biding the Lord’s command to “go forward.”