T HE K I N G ’S B U S I N E S S It brought up the plagues of flies, and th e thunder storm , and tu rn ed the w ater into blood. It was not Moses, however, nor Moses’ rod th a t did the work, but it was th e God of th e rod, th e God of Moses. As long as God was w ith him, he could not fail. But Moses made another excuse, and said, “I am slow of speech, slow of tongue.” He said he was not an or ator. My friends, we have too many or ators. I am tired and sick of your “ sil ver-tongued o rato rs.” I used to mourn because I couldn’t be an o rator. I thought, Oh, if I could only have the gift of speech like some men! I have heard men w ith a smooth flow of lan guage tak e the audience captive, but they came and they went, th e ir voice was like the a ir, th ere wasn’t any power back of it; they tru ste d in th e ir eloquence and th e ir fine speeches. That is w hat P aul was th ink ing of when he w rote to th e Corinthians pp!TMy speech and my preaching was not w ith entic ing words of m an’s wisdom, b u t in dem onstration of th e Spirit and of power: th a t your faith should not stand In the wisdom of men, bu t in th e power of God.” Take a w itness in court and le t him try his oratorical powers in th e w it ness-box, and see how quickly th e judge will ru le him out. It is th e man who tells the plain, simple tru th th a t hag the most influence w ith the jury. Suppose th a t Moses had prepared a speech for P haraoh, and had got his h air all smoothly brushed, and had stood before th e looking-glass or had gone to an elocutionist to be taugh t how to make an oratorical speech and how to make gestures. Suppose th a t h e had buttoned his coat, pu t one hand in his chest, had stru ck an a t titu d e and begun: “The God of our fathers, th e God of Abraham , 'Isaac, and Jacob, has commanded me to come into the pres ence of th e noble King of Egypt.” I th ink they would have tak en his head rig h t off! They had Egyptians who could be as eloquent as Moses. It was not eloquence they wanted. When you see a man in th e pulpit trying to show off his eloquence he is making a fool of him self and trying to make a fool of th e people. Moses was slow of speech, bu t he had a message, and what God w anted was to have him deliver the message. But he insisted upon
400 despised shepherd to work out H is pur pose through pain and disappointment. T h at was God’s way in th e Old Testa ment, and also in th e New. He sent His own Son in th e likeness of sinful flesh to be th e mediator between God and man. Moses went on making excuses and said, “When I go down there, who shall I say has sent m e?” I suppose he remembered how he went before he was sent th a t o ther time, and he was afraid of a failure again. A man who has made a failu re once is always afraid he will make another. He loses confidence in himself. It is a good th ing to lose confidence in our selves so as to gain confidence in God. The Lord said, “ Say unto them , ‘I AM h ath sent me.’ ” Some one has said th a t God gave him a blank check, and all he had to do was to fill it out from th a t tim e on. When he w anted to bring w ater out of th e rock, all he had to do was to fill out th e check; when he wanted bread, all he had to do was to fill out th e check and the bread came; he had a rich banker. God had tak en him into partnership w ith Himself. God had made him His heir, and all he had to do was to look up to Him, and he got all he wanted. And yet he seemed to draw back, and began to make ano ther excuse, and said: “They will not believe me.” He was afraid of th e Israelites as well as of Ph araoh : he knew how hard it is to get even your friends to believe in you. God told Moses th a t they would be lieve him , th a t he would succeed, and bring th e children of Israel out of bond age. But Moses seemed to d istru st even th e God who had spoken to him. Then th e Lord said, “W hat is th a t in thy h an d ?” He had a rod or staff, a sort of shepherd’s crook, which he had cut haphazard when he h ad wanted some th ing th a t would serve him in the desert. “ It is only a rod.” “W ith th a t you shall deliver th e children of Israel; w ith th a t rod you shall make Israel believe th a t I am w ith you.” When God A lm ighty linked Himself to th a t rod, it was worth more th an all th e arm ies the world had ever seen. Look and see how th a t rod did its work.
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