Will you please turn to the book of Acts, chapter 7? Acts chapter 7.
The text is Acts 7, beginning with verse 29.
And Moses fled at this saying, and became a sojourner in the land of Midian, where he begat two sons.
And when forty years were fulfilled, an angel appeared to him in the wilderness of Mount Sinai, in a flame of fire in a bush.
And Moses, seeing it, wondered at the vision; and as he drew near to behold it, there came a voice of the Lord:
I am the God of thy fathers, the God of Abraham, and of Isaac, and of Jacob.
And Moses trembled, and durst not behold.
And the Lord said unto him, Loose the sandals from thy feet: for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground.
I have surely seen the ill treatment of My people which is in Egypt, and have heard their groaning, and am come down to deliver them: and now come, I will send thee into Egypt.
This Moses whom they refused, saying, Who made thee a ruler and a judge? him hath God sent to be both a ruler and a deliverer with the hand of the angel that appeared to him in the bush.
Let us turn back to Exodus, chapter 3, beginning with verse 1.
Now Moses was keeping the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian: and he led the flock to the back of the wilderness, and came to the mountain of God, even to Horeb.
And the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush: and he looked, and, behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed.
And Moses said, I will turn aside now, and see this great sight, why the bush is not burnt.
And when the Lord saw that he turned aside to see, God called unto him out of the midst of the bush, and said, Moses, Moses. And he said, Here am I.
And He said, Draw not nigh hither: put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground.
Moreover He said, I am the God of thy father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. And Moses hid his face; for he was afraid to look upon God.
And the Lord said, I have surely seen the affliction of My people that are in Egypt, and have heard their cry by reason of their taskmasters; for I know their sorrows.
And I am come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land unto a good land and a large, unto a land flowing with milk and honey; unto the place of the Canaanite, and the Hittite, and the Amorite, and the Perizzite, and the Hivite, and the Jebusite.
And now, behold, the cry of the children of Israel is come unto Me: moreover I have seen the oppression wherewith the Egyptians oppress them.
Come now therefore, and I will send thee unto Pharaoh, that thou mayest bring forth My people the children of Israel out of Egypt.
And Moses said unto God, Who am I, that I should go unto Pharaoh, and that I should bring forth the children of Israel out of Egypt?
And He said, Certainly I will be with thee: and this shall be the sign unto thee, that I have sent thee: when thou hast brought forth the people out of Egypt, ye shall serve God upon this mountain.
And Moses said unto God, Behold, when I come unto the children of Israel, and shall say unto them, The God of your fathers hath sent me unto you; and they shall say to me, What is His name? what shall I say unto them?
And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and He said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you.
Let us pray.
Our heavenly Father, how we praise and thank Thee for Thy mercy, Thy grace, and Thy love, which Thou hast so bountifully bestowed upon us through Thy Son, our Lord Jesus Christ.
Our Father, we do thank Thee for gathering us together before Thee and before Thy Word. We ask that, at this present moment, Thy Holy Spirit may quicken Thy Word to each of our hearts, that through Thy Word we may be in touch with Thee, the Living Word. In the name of our Lord Jesus. Amen.
We mentioned last Lord’s Day that there are two great themes in the Word of God. One is sonship, and the other is servanthood. Sonship pertains to life, and servanthood pertains to work.
Thank God, we have received the life of our Lord Jesus. And it is God’s will that this life of Christ in us will grow, that we may be conformed to the image of God’s Son, that we may arrive at sonship—the placing of the son—and that we may enter into glory, as the only begotten Son will lead us into it.
At the same time, we find that we who are the children of God are also called to be God’s servants. Every child of God is a servant of the Lord. We may not serve in the same capacity, but we all serve. These are the two greatest themes that you will find in the Word of God.
In the book of Genesis, we are shown the kind of man that God is really after, or the cause that pertains to sonship. In the book of Exodus, we find the kind of servant that God is looking for, as typified in the life of Moses.
The life of Moses is divided by the Spirit of God into three parts of forty years each. Moses was forty years in Egypt, forty years in Midian, and forty years in the wilderness.
As we mentioned last Lord’s Day, forty is the number of testing or trial. Moses, as a servant of the Lord, was tested for forty years in Egypt by the riches of Egypt. Thank God, he passed the test. He would rather choose to suffer with the people of God than to enjoy all the riches of Egypt.
Moses was forty years in Midian. He was tested by the sheep, and thank God, he learned his lesson. Then, for another forty years, he was tested in the wilderness by the children of Israel, and we find that he was faithful in all God’s house.
Now, brothers and sisters, we are all servants of the Lord. As servants, we cannot but be tested, and we will be tested from the very beginning to the very end. But thank God, by His grace, with His life within us, through the help of the Holy Spirit, we also may be found worthy and faithful servants of God.
We are not able to go back to all that we mentioned last Lord’s Day, but I would just mention this. When Moses was in Egypt, we find that a few principles governing servanthood are being described.
A servant is chosen by God. In other words, no one volunteers. God chose us, and God chooses us even before the foundation of the world. Even when we were in our mother’s womb, He chose us. It is a choice of God.
Our Lord Jesus said, “Ye did not choose Me, but I chose you, and appointed you, that ye should go and bear fruit.”
After God has chosen us, then one day we must choose Him. This is our response to Him. So the Bible says that Moses chose rather the reproach of Christ than the pleasures of sin. We must choose Him too.
Another thing we mentioned last Lord’s Day, and we hope to deal with it more thoroughly this morning, is that when Moses was forty years old, it came into his mind to look after the welfare of his brethren. In other words, he was interested in his brethren.
This is a sign of servanthood. Anyone who is chosen by God and has responded to God to be a servant of the Lord—the first sign of servanthood is his interest in God’s people. When we begin to be interested in God’s people, interested in God’s interests, that shows that we begin to be God’s servants.
But unfortunately, you find that in that instance Moses himself took the initiative. He did not wait upon God to send him out. He took the initiative; he went out himself. In doing so, he was open to temptation.
He saw an Egyptian oppressing a Hebrew, so he smote that Egyptian to death and buried him under the sand. Why? Because he was mighty in deeds. The next day, he went out again on his own initiative, and again he was tempted. He saw two Hebrews quarrelling, and, being mighty in words, he tried to reconcile them by his eloquence, not knowing that he was rejected even by his own brethren.
So there is a lesson to learn in the matter of servanthood. Once we are interested in God’s interests, once we begin to be concerned with our brothers and sisters, our temptation is, instead of waiting upon the Lord to be sent and depending upon His power to do the work, we just launch out and try to do it ourselves.
We think our brethren certainly understand. But they do not. The result is a complete failure. Moses had to flee for his life. He fled from Egypt, and for another forty years he spent his time in Midian, tending a few sheep belonging to his father-in-law, Jethro.
This is what we would like to consider together this morning: the second forty years of Moses.
During the first forty years, Moses learned all the learning of Egypt. Egypt was the first nation in the world at that time. It was the greatest empire at that time, and the civilization, culture, and learning of Egypt were well known.
Look at the pyramids today, and you will find what civilization that was—such architecture. It was so accurate astronomically that even today it is considered a marvel. Yet it was built during that time.
Moses, in God’s sovereignty, was supposed to die because he was a Hebrew. He was under the decree of Pharaoh that every Hebrew child must be cast into the river. There was the sentence of death upon him. He was supposed to die, and yet God, in His sovereign way, rescued him out of the water and put him in the Egyptian palace.
For forty years, he learned all the learning of Egypt. He was the most learned person in the whole world at that time. He was mighty in words and deeds.
He tried to use all that he had learned. He thought he knew; he thought that he was mighty in words and deeds. So he started out to save the children of Israel by his mightiness, by all that he had learned. But the result was a total failure.
There he was in the wilderness, tending a few sheep. Now, brothers and sisters, if you put yourself in his place, I think you can well imagine what happened.
During the first few years, probably when Moses was tending these few sheep, he had lots of time to think. He must have been thinking, “What has gone wrong? Surely God wants to use me to deliver the children of Israel. I am trying to do it with the best I know, with the best I can, and yet not even my brethren understood. What has gone wrong?”
He must have gone over the past incidents again and again, trying to figure it out. He must have waited before God and said, “Now, God, if I have failed Thee once, give me another chance.” But year after year passed, and nothing happened. Forty years passed.
You remember Moses wrote Psalm 90. In that collection of psalms, Psalm 90 was written by Moses, the man of God. In that psalm he said:
The days of our years are threescore years and ten;
Or even by reason of strength fourscore years.
In other words, so far as Moses was concerned, he knew that a lifetime was seventy years, and if one were strong, he could reach eighty years. Eighty was the limit to Moses of a man’s life. Yet Moses was forty years in Egypt and forty years in Midian. He was eighty years old. In his own estimate, that was the end of life.
During those forty years tending the sheep, he unlearned everything that he had learned in Egypt. You know, that is a wonderful thing. What he learned was that there was a reason for his failure.
If he were not such a learned person, if he were not so mighty in words and deeds, he might not have been a hindrance to God. Probably God could have used him. But because he was so mighty, because he was so learned, because he knew so much, therefore he failed. God could not use him.
Now, why should God allow him to learn all the learning of Egypt and then wipe it away and say, “I cannot use you because of this”? Is that not strange? A paradox?
It was God’s sovereignty that made it possible for Moses to learn all the learning of Egypt. Yet these very things that he learned became a hindrance to God’s using him. He had to unlearn all these things.
Think of that: forty years with a few sheep. Your eloquence will be gone. There is no one to talk to. You talk to these dumb sheep, and they just do not understand.
So after forty years with these sheep, he unlearned all his eloquence. No wonder, when God began to call him, Moses said, “I cannot speak.” And that was true. He could not speak.
In forty years, he unlearned all his mightiness in deeds. He was a great warrior. He was strong in his arm. He could beat an Egyptian to death. But when you are tending sheep and try to use your mightiness, the sheep will certainly die.
Oh, you have to be tender with these sheep. You have to handle them very gently. Therefore, you find that after forty years he unlearned all his mightiness in deeds. When God called him, he said, “You call somebody else. I cannot do anything. There is nothing I can do.”
He had to unlearn everything that he had learned. You know, it is very difficult to learn, but I think it is more difficult to unlearn.
How God, in His sovereignty, allows us to learn lots of things. Even before we know the Lord, He knew us. Even before you were saved, all your past was known by God. God arranged your past. God allowed you to be somewhere, allowed you to be in some family, and allowed you to learn something. All these are under God’s sovereignty.
God allowed you to learn all these things in the world, and you learned a lot. But do you think that because you have learned a lot, therefore you can serve God? On the contrary, because you have learned a lot, you cannot serve God.
If you try to depend upon what you have learned, what you know, your own cleverness, and your own strength, you will find that all these things are not only not a help, but a hindrance. Certainly God will reject all these things and say, “I have no use for all these things.”
Then you ask, “Why, God, did You allow me to learn these things?” Well, He allows you to learn these things so that one day you may unlearn them. Not in the sense that you forget them, but in the sense that you will not depend on them anymore.
You know, dear brothers and sisters, God wanted to use Moses to lead a whole nation out of Egypt, through the wilderness, and into Canaan—not just a few people, but a nation.
Moses must have learned government, management, military matters, politics, and all these things in Egypt. Because he had all this background, one day God could use him to lead a nation. A person who has never had such a background, God could not trust with a nation.
Just like Paul: God used Paul so mightily. Half of the New Testament was written by Paul. Why? Because Paul was a Pharisee, a learned person. God will use these things, but these things must first go to death and be resurrected. Otherwise, they are useless to God.
Natural talents, education, and experience are useful to God only after you unlearn them. If you learn them and never unlearn them, no doubt you will depend upon these things to serve God.
Remember, God has no use for your natural talents, your education, and your experience. But God does use natural talents. He does use your education. He does use your experience. When? Only after you have unlearned them.
Only after you have come to the day when you say, “Lord, I do not know a thing. I let all these things go. I do not take pride in any of these things. These things are absolutely useless unless You want to use them. Help Yourself.”
It is only at that time that you find God can use what He has allowed you to learn before. Why? Because these things will not be your idols. These things become instruments in God’s hand.
Therefore, you find God allowed Moses to fail. What if he had succeeded? If he had succeeded in smiting an Egyptian to death, if he had succeeded in reconciling the two brothers, you know what would have happened. He would never have been able to deliver the whole nation out of Egypt. He might have done a little thing here and a little thing there, but that would have been all he could do.
But God wanted him to deliver a whole nation. So there you find another principle concerning servanthood: we must learn, if God gives us opportunity to learn. Do not say, “I will not learn it, since it is no use. Why should I learn it?”
God put Daniel in Babylon, and Daniel learned all the learning of the Chaldeans. Learn it. If God gives you opportunity, learn everything you can. But be ready to unlearn all of it.
You remember what Paul said in Philippians 3. He said, “What things were gain to me, these have I counted loss for Christ.” Oh, what gain—a Pharisee, knowing the law, and according to the righteousness which is in the law, found blameless.
But he said, “What things were gain to me, these have I counted loss for Christ.” Remember, it is not only dross; it is loss. Dross is bad enough, but loss is more than dross, because it is a loss.
He said, “I consider all these things loss.” Why? Because these things are a hindrance to gaining Christ. “I would rather lose all these things. I consider them as loss that I may gain Christ.” Oh, to gain Christ, to know Christ.
But after he gained Christ, Christ could use what he considered as loss. That is the first thing you find in the forty years in the wilderness: unlearn what had been learned.
Number two: there in the wilderness, Moses was to learn to know himself.
You know, we know everything. Today, people know everything. They even know outer space, but they do not know themselves. This is an unknown. How can we know ourselves?
Moses could not know himself in the Egyptian palace. Why? Because there in the palace his ego was so boosted, so nourished, so inflated. He thought he was somebody—a big shot. He did not know himself.
But there in the quietness of the desert, with a few sheep, he began to see who he was—not the adopted son of the daughter of Pharaoh, but good for nothing. He began to see himself.
After forty years in the desert, he came to the conclusion that he was as good as dead. He was eighty years old now, and eighty was the end. Vision was gone. Hope was gone. He was no longer ambitious as he had been before. He had given up hope that God would ever use him, or that he could ever be of use. He considered himself as dead.
“Who am I? I am not.” He saw himself as so utterly nothing that he even tried to convince God: “God, You cannot do anything with nothing. Send somebody else. Do not send me, because I am just nothing.”
He came to know himself. Dear brothers and sisters, there is one lesson every servant of God must learn, and that is to know himself.
It is not enough just to know the Bible. It is not enough just to know the methods, the ways, and the techniques. You must know yourself. If you do not know yourself, if you do not see yourself as God sees you, in yourself you are no use to God.
But thank God, in the wilderness he not only learned to know himself, which he could never know while he was in Egypt in the palace. You know yourself when you are put into a low position, a difficult situation, failures, and afflictions. These things will help you to know yourself.
If you have never been afflicted, if you have never suffered, if you are always on the top, if there is no failure, you never know yourself. But all these things come to you with a reason, and the reason is that you may know yourself, that you may humble yourself before God.
But thank God, together with this, you find that he also learned to know God. In Egypt, in the palace, he did not know God.
It is true that he had a feeling that God had called him. Probably his mother had spoken to his little heart when she was feeding him as a baby. But aside from that, we have no proof that Moses really knew God or had met God before.
But here in the quietness of the desert, on the backside of the desert, under Mount Horeb, you find that he began to know God.
To be a servant of the Lord, the knowledge of God is not only basic but most essential. What if you do not know God? You know the Bible, or you know the technique, or you know the people, or you know yourself, but you do not know God. How can God use you?
So there you find that during forty years Moses was brought face to face with God. He was brought away from man, away from the multitude, away from all the hustle and bustle of society. There in the quietness, he was brought face to face with God, and he began to know God.
Actually, the experience of the burning bush is the consummation of his forty years’ experience. The vision of the burning bush is the consummation of that second forty years. It did not come suddenly; it came as the result of forty years in the desert of Midian.
As we said before, Moses was eighty years old. He considered himself as good as dead. All his ambition and hope were gone. He was quite content to live a shepherd’s life and to end his life in obscurity.
But one day, while he led his sheep to the backside of the mountain, Mount Horeb, he noticed something. He noticed a thorn bush was burning.
In the desert, a thorn bush is a common sight. Because there is a lack of water, you do not have all these trees and oases. But thorn bushes you find everywhere in the desert.
Why is it thorn? We are told that thorn is actually aborted growth. It should be leaves, it should be flowers, it should be fruit. But because there is not enough water or nutrition, the growth is arrested and aborted, and it becomes thorns.
So in the desert, you find all these thorn bushes—not trees, but bushes, full of thorns because their growth has been aborted. It is very common in the desert.
Because these thorn bushes are so dry, lacking water, and because the sun is so hot, it is a common thing that a thorn bush will catch fire by itself. You do not even need to make the fire yourself. You do not need to use a match. It will ignite itself, suddenly flash, burn, and be gone very fast.
It was a common sight in the desert, and Moses must have seen it thousands, tens of thousands of times in those forty years. It was just nothing.
But that day, when Moses saw a thorn bush begin to burn, maybe at the beginning he thought, “Oh, it is another burning bush.” But he noticed that the thorn bush was burning, and it was not consumed. Now that is a vision. That is out of the ordinary.
A vision was given to Moses at the most unexpected time, under the most unexpected circumstances.
You know, we are thinking of a vision: “Oh, that God will give me a vision.” Now what are you thinking? You are thinking of something spectacular. You are thinking of something tremendous.
Oftentimes God gives vision in the most ordinary occurrence—something that has happened every day, and yet one day it is different. The very same thing that has happened every day, one day it becomes different. A vision comes.
That thorn bush was burning, but it was not consumed. Why? So Moses moved toward that place and tried to see the reason why. As he drew near to that place, a voice came out of the thorn bush. Why? Because the angel of the Lord dwelt in the thorn bush.
Moses said, “Here am I.” Now, you see, Moses knew God. If Moses did not know God, Moses could not say, “Here am I.” He knew the voice of God. It was the consummation of forty years. He began to know God.
So when God called him, he said, “Here am I.” God said, “I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” When Moses heard this, he was afraid. He hid his face. Then God said, “Take off your shoes. This is holy ground.”
There God revealed His heart concerning His people to Moses. God said, “I have heard the cry of My people. I remember My covenant. I am sending you to deliver My children out of Egypt into a land flowing with milk and honey.”
Forty years ago, it had come into Moses’ heart to go out and see what had happened to his brethren. It was a good intention, but it was on his own. Now, another forty years later, he saw a vision, and God said, “I am sending you.”
He thought he would never be sent. He had given up any hope of being sent. But the end of man is the beginning of God.
Dear brothers and sisters, our problem is that we do not come through ourselves. One day, if we really come to our end—period—remember, that is the day God will begin.
God began with Moses by giving him a vision—a vision of a thorn bush burning. In this vision, you find three parts: the thorn bush, the fire, and the angel of the Lord. These three are together.
The application may be personal or corporate. You may apply this vision to Moses himself, or you may apply this vision to the children of Israel. Either is applicable.
This thorn bush represented Moses. When Moses was in Egypt, he was a cedar of Lebanon. Oh, he considered himself great, and the whole nation of Egypt considered him great. He was a great man, towering over the rest.
But after forty years in the desert, he considered himself a thorn bush. “I am not a tree. I am a bush. I do not bear any fruit. I produce only thorns.” And thorns are a sign of curse.
Dear brothers and sisters, do we see ourselves as thorn bushes? The world is a desert. If you really have vision, you will see that the world is but a desert: dry, barren, scorched. And you are but a thorn bush.
You are nothing. You are the result of curse. You do not produce any fruit for God. A thorn bush is good for nothing—not even for burning, because when it is burned, it burns quickly. It does not give enough heat to warm travellers. Nothing.
That is what you are. That is what I am. If we really have a vision of what we are, really, in ourselves, we are nothing but thorn bushes.
A thorn bush deserves nothing but to be burned. Fire in the Scripture speaks of judgment.
The wages of sin is death.
It is appointed unto men once to die, and after this cometh judgment.
We are all under the curse of the law, and when the law is carried out, that is judgment. We are consumed. If we are not consumed, it is because of the mercy of God.
The fire not only consumes and burns; fire also purifies and sanctifies. It will burn away everything that can be burned. But if there is something that cannot be burned, then it will be purified and glorified.
Gold, silver, and precious stones, if they go through fire, will be refined, purified, and made to glow. But if it is wood, hay, or stubble, it will be burned and lost.
Fire as judgment also has purifying power. It will purify, even to glorify.
Now look at that thorn bush. It was supposed to be consumed, and yet it was not consumed. Not only was it not consumed, but it was a sight. You could see the fire burning, and the thorn bush was aglow. It was shining. Is that not wonderful?
What is the reason? The reason is not in the thorn bush. The reason is in the One who dwells in the bush. The angel of the Lord was in the bush.
Every time in the Old Testament when it says, “the angel of the Lord,” it refers to the second Person of the Godhead.
Deuteronomy 33:16 says, “He that dwelt in the bush.” In other words, God dwelt in the bush. Think of that.
God dwells in heaven. The heavens are His throne, and the earth is His footstool. God said, “What manner of house will ye build Me?”
But God said, “I will look to the broken and contrite spirit, those who tremble at My Word.” The heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain Him, and yet He dwells in a broken and contrite heart.
God humbles Himself to dwell in us—not just to visit us, but to dwell there, to make His home there. Oh, brothers and sisters, that is the gospel.
What is the gospel of Jesus Christ? The gospel of Jesus Christ is that God, the almighty God, the holy God, should dwell and make His home in humble men and women such as we are. He not only visits us; He makes His home in us.
What a great God! It is because the angel of the Lord dwells in the bush that the fire cannot consume the bush, but the fire glorifies the bush, purifying it and glorifying it.
Oh, brothers and sisters, when Moses saw that vision, he could see himself—that thorn bush. He could see the fire consuming him. Yet, strangely, he was not consumed. Why? Because God was with him.
God was purifying him, burning out all the rubbish in him, all that needed to be burned in himself. God glorified him by being with him. It was a sight that gave hope to Moses.
If you apply it to the nation of Israel, it is the same picture. The nation of Israel was like a thorn bush. Look at their situation in Egypt. They were not even allowed to live. The whole nation was to be annihilated.
A thorn bush under curse—the judgment of death was upon them. Yet somehow this nation would not die. Why? Because God was with them. God used affliction to bring them back to God.
That is the vision. Dear brothers and sisters, we need that vision. Everyone who desires to be used by God must have this vision.
You must see yourself as a thorn bush. You must see that you deserve nothing but to be consumed. But somehow God miraculously preserves you. Why? Because He is in you. He is with you. He is purifying you. He is glorifying you, that He may use you.
If you see this, you will never boast of yourself. It is foolish to boast. You will never try to share God’s glory, because it is His glory, not yours.
You also need to see the vision of the work that God wants you to do. Look at the children of God today. It is like a thorn bush: no beauty, dried up, nothing.
The church, as you see it, should die. There is no reason for her to continue. But the church has continued for two thousand years. Why? Because the Lord is in her.
He is using affliction, suffering, persecution, problems, and trouble to purify His church, that He may present to Himself a glorious church, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing.
Brothers and sisters, unless you catch that vision, there is no sense in working to serve the Lord. If the church is going to die, let it die. It does not deserve to be rescued. Oh, no. You have a vision. You know God is going to have a glorious church, and because of that, you go. You go and serve.
With a vision comes the commission. God said to Moses, “You go.”
If you do not have a vision, you have no commission. You may be commissioned by man, but you have no divine commission. But once you have that heavenly vision, you get a divine commission.
A vision without a commission is a mirage. Every time a vision comes from above, there is a commission coming to you. God does not just give you a vision for you to enjoy.
A vision is given with a meaning, with a reason. The reason God gives you that vision is that He wants to commission you to fulfil that vision. That is a commission.
Brothers and sisters, what is our vocation? Your vocation is not to be a teacher, a doctor, a nurse, an office worker, an engineer, a housewife, or whatever it may be. That is not your vocation.
Your vocation is to serve God. That is your vocation. But if you do not have vision, you have no vocation.
Moses saw that vision, and he was commissioned by God. That became Moses’ vocation. That was the one thing he had to do. It was very costly. It cost him everything, but it had to be done.
Everything had to be subjected to that vocation—whether your family, whether your business, whatever it may be. It had to be subjected to that vocation, because our vocation is to serve the living God.
There is no vocation higher than this. Thank God, here is a vocation that can be shared by all believers. It is not just a few who have that vocation. So far as God’s calling is concerned, every child of God is called to be a servant of God, and that is our vocation.
Oh, that we may serve Him with all our hearts. Shall we pray?
Our heavenly Father, we do bow before Thee. We marvel at Thy mercy. We who should be consumed, and yet Thou hast glorified us.
Oh, that we, humble as we are, are called to serve Thee and serve Thy purpose. Our Father, do make us forget everything and just give ourselves completely to Thee. Let Thee work out that which Thou hast commissioned us to do.
We dare not trust anymore in ourselves, but thank God, we can trust Thee. Thou art with us, and the work that Thou hast called us to shall be done. In the name of our Lord Jesus. Amen.