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When I began reading to prepare
these short articles about humility, almost immediately my mind went to
Moses. After all, the Scriptures tell us, Now
Moses was a very humble man, more humble than anyone else on the face of the
earth. Considering that this man had hewn out a career
in Egypt as a warrior and a statesman and was trained in the mysterious
hieroglyph, in mathematics, astronomy and chemistry; for him to be turned
into a very humble man was the work
of God in his life.
But Scripture seems to indicate that
even though Moses had learned humility, he was not aware of it in himself.
Someone said, No person is humble who thinks he is. William Ward said,
He is without humility who sees it within himself. Or another man put it,
I am most humble and very proud of it.
Moses, unaware of his humility, had
a great desire to SEE GOD. Show me now
thy way, that I may know Thee; I
beseech Thee, show me thy glory. Prayers like these were
constantly on his lips. This yearning in him seemed to be so intense. Some
saintly hearts long for God, Oh that I knew
where I might find Him! My soul
longeth, yea, even fainteth for the courts of the Lord; my heart and my
flesh cry out for the living God. My
soul thirsteth for Thee.
Do you desire to SEE GOD? If
we keep our faces toward the mountain of communion we shall find that our
heart yearning for the vision will not go without it. Such a yearning is a
soul standing at the threshold of the highest privilege possible to man. It
is thus that a baby awakens to a mothers tenderness. Such yearning came
from Moses, And the Lord said unto Moses, I will
do this thing also that thou hast spoken; for thou hast found grace in My
sight
. Be ready in the morning and come up in the morning unto Mount
Sinai.
Moses was an obedient servant of
God. That is what the Scripture calls him, And
they sing the song of Moses the servant of God
. (Rev. 15:3)
Jesus said we will SEE HIM if we obey, He
that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me:
and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him,
and will manifest myself to him. (John 14:21)
Do not be disobedient to heavenly
visions; never turn aside to your own preferences from the narrow path of
unswerving loyalty to the voice of God speaking in His Word, in your
heart, and in your circumstances. Dare to do His will, though you stand
alone, you will fulfill the one primary condition of the vision of God:
OBEDIENCE.
We must also be willing to pass
through the thick cloud. Moses would not have seen the vision had he not
been willing to pass through the cloud and to stand beneath the shadow of
the Divine hand.
And the
glory of the Lord abode upon mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it six days:
and the seventh day he called unto Moses out of the midst of the cloud. And
the sight of the glory of the Lord was like devouring fire on the top of the
mount in the eyes of the children of Israel. And Moses went into the
midst of the cloud, and gat him up into the mount: and Moses was in the
mount forty days and forty nights. (Exodus 24:16-18)
Not
first the light and after the dark;
But first the dark and after that the light.
First the thick cloud and then the rainbow are;
First the dark grave and then the resurrection light.
And we must be willing to go it
alone. And be ready in the morning, and come up
in the morning unto mount Sinai, and present thyself there to me in the top
of the mount. And no man shall come up with thee, neither let any man
be seen throughout all the mount; neither let the flocks nor herds feed
before that mount. (Exodus 34:2-3)
Did not Jesus say, When
thou prayest, enter into thy closet and
when thou has shut thy door, pray to the Father
which is in secret? Jacob must be left alone if the Angel of
God is to whisper in his ear the mystic name of Shiloh; Daniel must be alone
if he is to see the celestial vision; John must be banished to Patmos if he
is to receive the revelation.
Valuable as is the wonderful
services to our Lord in our church work, too often our service to God gets
in the way of our communion with God. Does such brotherly fellowship give
us distaste for lonely heart-fellowship with Him? Let the first moments of
the day when the heart is fresh be given to God. Never see the face of man
till you have seen the King. Dare to be much alone on the Mount.
Such time with God will leave
unmistakable traces. The face of Moses shone. Could it have been
otherwise? Have you ever noticed elderly couples begin to look similar to
each other as they live their lives together? Let us spend so much time
with our Lord that His image is unmistakably stamped into us. It is
impossible for us to be much with God and not be godly. The long fixed gaze
of the soul on the vision of God will bring us to be conformed to the image
of Jesus.
Ah, but here is the evident
unawareness of the humility of Moses. When Moses
came down from Mount Sinai with the two tablets of the Testimony in his
hands, he was not aware that his face was radiant because he had
spoken with the LORD. (Exodus 34:29)
I cannot help but believe that
Father intends our faces to shine with the glory of Jesus when you consider
these New Testament words of comparison: Now if
the ministry that brought death, which was engraved in letters on stone,
came with glory, so that the Israelites could not look steadily at the face
of Moses because of its glory, fading though it was, will not the ministry
of the Spirit be even more glorious? If the ministry that condemns
men is glorious, how much more glorious is the ministry that brings
righteousness! For what was glorious has no glory now in comparison with the
surpassing glory. And if what was fading away came with glory, how
much greater is the glory of that which lasts! Therefore, since we have
such a hope, we are very bold. (2 Corinthians 3:7-12)
True Christian excellence is as
unconscious of its beauty as Moses was; whenever it becomes self-conscious
it loses its charm. Beware of the man who talks about his graces. There is
such a thing as being proud of humility and making it profitable to ones
self interests. The man who boasts of a shining face is a counterfeit and a
cheat. The possessor of the genuine article never talks about it; never
thinks about it; and would be almost overwhelmed to hear of any such thing
being ascribed to him. The charm of a little child is its utter
unconsciousness of self and that is the charm in true God-likeness. It is
an unaware humility.
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