CT 408-9
(Counsels to Parents, Teachers, and Students 408-9)
Thus educated, Moses was prepared to heed the call of God to exchange his shepherd’s crook for the rod of authority; to leave his flock of sheep to take the leadership of an idolatrous, rebellious people. But he was still to depend on the invisible Leader. As the rod was an instrument in his hand, so he was to be a willing instrument in the hand of Christ. He was to be the shepherd of God’s people; and through his firm faith and abiding trust in the Lord, many blessings were to come to the children of Israel.... (CT 408.1) MC VC
It was implicit faith in God that made Moses what he was. According to all that the Lord commanded him, so he did. All the learning of the wise men could not make Moses a channel through which the Lord could work, until he lost his self-confidence, realized his own helplessness, and put his trust in God; until he was willing to obey God’s commands, whether they seemed to his human reason to be right or not.... (CT 408.2) MC VC
It was not the teaching of the schools of Egypt that enabled Moses to triumph over his enemies, but an ever-abiding, unflinching faith, a faith that did not fail under the most trying circumstances. At the command of God, Moses advanced, although apparently there was nothing ahead for his feet to tread upon. More than a million people were depending on him, and he led them forward step by step, day by day. God permitted these lonely travels through the wilderness that His people might obtain an experience in enduring hardship, and that when they were in peril they might know that there was relief and deliverance in God alone. Thus they might learn to know and to trust God, and to serve Him with a living faith. (CT 408.3) MC VC
The Most Important Lesson VC
God is not dependent upon men of perfect education. His work is not to wait while His servants go through such lengthy, elaborate preparations as some of our schools are planning to give. He wants men who appreciate the privilege of being laborers together with Him—men who will honor Him by rendering implicit obedience to His requirements, regardless of previously inculcated theories. There is no limit to the usefulness of those who put self to one side, make room for the working of the Holy Spirit upon their hearts, and live lives wholly consecrated to God, enduring the necessary discipline imposed by the Lord without complaining or fainting by the way. If they will not faint at the rebuke of the Lord, and become hardhearted and stubborn, the Lord will teach both old and young, hour by hour, day by day. He longs to reveal His salvation to the children of men; and if His chosen people will remove the obstructions, He will pour forth the waters of salvation in abundant streams through human channels. (CT 409.1) MC VC