Dear Ones:
When we read the story of Moses in the Bible, we are immediately struck by the time line in Moses’ life. The first forty years, he grew up in Pharoah’s household, and was “…learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and mighty in words and deeds.” (Acts 7:23) He then fled Egypt, and ended up in Madian, eventually coming to Mount Sina (Horeb), where God would reveal Himself to him in the burning bush. (Acts 7:30, Ex. 3) This period would compass another forty years. After this second period of forty years, he would embark upon the call of God for his life, leading the people of Israel out of Egypt, and to the edge of the promised land. It is important to see in God’s dealings with Moses, that he was not in a hurry. For this “locomotive” of a man, it would take forty years in a “desert” and “wilderness” behind sheep, to bring him to the place where God could speak to him “in accents clear and still,” and where he would respond by faith to the call of God. If we use the illustration of a still pond of water, we can understand more fully why God would deal with him in this manner. If the surface of the pond is still, any ripple on it is clearly distinguished. And so it was, that when the voice of God out of the burning bush reverberated in the calm soul of Moses, not only was an impression made, but a conviction of Who God was became dominant in his heart.
Bertha Smith, a southern Baptist missionary to China for over forty years, once said that, during the first ten years of her ministry, she thought she was everything. During the second ten year period, she learned that she was nothing. But during the third period of ten years, she learned that God was everything. And so, it was with Moses. It would take forty years to bring him to stillness, to a consciousness of his nothingness without God, but to the realization that God’s hand was on his life. He had a purpose, and it was Divine, from heaven.
There are periods in our lives when the Lord brings us to quietness, stillness….not passivity, but stillness. Indeed, I believe that the farther we go on with the Lord, the deeper the stillness of heart and soul. The reason for this is so that God’s impressions will become convictions. It will be in the stillness that we will KNOW Him, His will, and His ways. This is why He reveals Himself to us as the God of peace. What did Jesus say to the disciples on this subject? “Peace I leave with you, My peace I give unto you.” (Jn. 14:27) Paul writes to the Colossian Christians that the “peace of God” is to RULE in their hearts. (Col. 3:15) Again, this is not a passivity, but a peace in the heart that “passeth understanding.” It is that stillness, out of which the certainty of His word becomes more than something interesting. It is the means by which His Life and Purpose are communicated to us.
So, let us be so very thankful that “He leads us besides still waters,” (…for shorter or longer periods of time…), for there, He restores our souls. And let us be thankful that the fruit of the Spirit is His peace…so essential, if we would be still and know that He is God, and that He is working.
“Speak Lord in the stillness, while I wait on Thee, Hushed my heart to listen, in expectancy. Speak O blessed Master in this quiet hour; speak and make me listen, feel Thy touch of power. For the words Thou speakest they are life indeed, living words from heaven, NOW my spirit feed.” (E.M. Grimes)
Love, Dad