Moses, The Servant Of God

by Guy Jarvie, Glasgow, Scotland | Category: General | Aug 1989

He had climbed to the top of Pisgah to see the land which the Lord was giving to Israel, His people; then he lay down and died. His eye had been undimmed, and his strength unabated, but the Lord had called away His faithful servant and buried his body in the land of Moab, no one knows where. The life of Moses provides valuable lessons for those who would serve God today.

During the first forty years of his life Moses was instructed in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and he was mighty in his words and in his works (Acts 7:22). In his earliest years his mother could have been his teacher, telling him of the God of Israel. He realized the significance of being an Israelite, though he was living as an Egyptian.

When Moses was about forty years old he went out to see his brethren. When he saw an Egyptian smiting an Israelite, he smote the Egyptian and buried him in the sand. He supposed that his brethren would understand that God would deliver them by his hand (Acts 7:25). But Moses and his brethren had to wait another forty years for God's deliverance.

Moses refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, he turned his back on Egypt and all that it could give him. He accounted the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt: for he looked unto the recompense of the reward (Heb. 11:26). This decision determined the course of his life.

We also are called upon to make decisions which affect the course of our lives. We are called by the mercies of God to present our bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is our reasonable service (1:om. 12:1). Because the Lord Jesus gave His life for us, we ought to live for Him. We are also asked not to be fashioned according to this world, but to be transformed by the renewing of our mind, that we may prove what is the

good and acceptable and perfect will of God.

The second forty years of Moses' life might appear to be lost time. He was caring for sheep. However, the Lord Himself was in a lowly occupation and in a village of no reputation. Moses was learning to be like Him, meek and lowly in heart (Num. 12:13). We also need to learn in the school of God, for He dwells in the high and holy place, and dwells with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit (Is. 57:15).

The burning bush experience marked the beginning of the last forty years of Moses' life; there he was called by God to lead out the people of Israel to the land of promise. Israel was to become a nation, the kingdom of God. Moses would give them the Book, which they were to read and obey until the Messiah would come (Mal. 4:4).

Across the Red Sea, with Egypt and its slavery behind them, Moses and the people sang the triumphant song:

I will sing unto the LORD, for He hath triumphed gloriously; the horse and his rider hath He thrown into the sea (Ex. 15:1).

Now they were to learn the ways of God as they travelled through the desert. But soon their little faith was tested and their song gave way to murmuring, though they had seen the mighty works of God.

We can learn helpful lessons from Israel's desert journey. Never let us murmur against our God when we are being tested (1 Pet. 1:7) or when He is

chastening us, because He loves us (Heb. 12:6). Let us rejoice in God even in times of trial, for His way is perfect (Ps. 18:30). Let us remember that the Lord has saved us and has given us the sure hope of the coming again of our Lord Jesus. Then we shall see Him in His glory and the far stretching land (Is. 33:17). Then we shall be like Him. Let the joy of the Lord be our strength. (Neh. 8:10).

Later, when Moses was in the Mount for forty days, the people made the golden calf, and worshipped it, how awful! How could they have turned away in heart so soon? Alas, many of them had brought their idols with them from Egypt (Ezek. 20:8), and so they were often turning aside to the shameful thing.

John Wrote, "My little children, guard yourselves from idols" (1 John 5:21). We may never turn aside to the crude idols that Israel worshipped, and

which many worship today. But we must guard lest anything should draw us away from our first love, or from obedience to our Lord Jesus Christ.

During those long years when Israel journeyed, Moses walked with them in what he called "the great and terrible wilderness" (Deut. 8:15). But he walked with God, and God communed with His servant, "face to face" as a man speaks to his friend, and the face of Moses shone with the reflected glory of the Lord ~x. 33:11; 34:29). It is possible for us to reflect as a mirror the glory of the Lord, and be transformed into the same image, from glory to glory, as from the Lord the Spirit (2 Cor. 3:18). From the experience of Moses we may learn something of the cost and of the possibility of serving God and having fellowship with Him. Let us press on to full growth.

Guy Jarvie, Glasgow, Scotland | Aug 1989
General