in arithmetic,geometry, poetry, mu sic, phiolsophy, astrology and vari ous branches of education. Archaeo logical remains that survive to this present day give us some insights into the high level of culture for that day. In mathematics alone the men were working on some of the very same theoretical problems which occupy mathematicians’ think ing today. Doubtless Moses was flu ent in the entire educational system ( vrs. 23). In which language do you think Moses was most at home? Ob viously Egyptian would be only nat ural. His mother had doubtless taught him Hebrew since she had been hired to take care of him as a child. God called Moses to lead his peo ple out of Egypt. He hesitated with the excuse, “Nobody will believe or even listen to me.” He wanted to get out of the responsibility (4:1,10). Moses must have been a powerful speaker, an orator. He was a little afraid to follow his commission when he was asked to go and speak with the children of Israel, who still spoke their Hebrew tongue, when perhaps he hadn’t used their language all those years. He confessed, “I have trouble getting my thoughts to come out right. I don’t have the persua siveness or the power of argument.” He evidently felt embarrassed and ashamed, thinking the people would be very sensitive about it. I know of Indians in Mexico who have gone to the large cities to learn Spanish. When they come back to their own area, the tribespeople laugh at them; they’ve forgotten some of the things learned when much younger. Moses didn’t want to face this kind of treat ment or response from his own people. He asked God to excuse him. How much this is like so many people today. There are so many reasons given for not serving the Lord. None of them are real reasons. I have even seen missionaries who went ahead and did their preaching Page 12
in English instead of getting busy to learn the language of the people. This isn’t a valid excuse in the eyes of God. God reminded Moses that He was the One who made men’s mouths. He provides hearing and seeing. Having created our mouths, lips, tongues, and all of our articulatory organs enabling us to communicate God’s truth to others. He gives the ability to learn a new language so that we can command pronunciation, vocabulary, and grammatical struc ture. A person can obtain phonetic training that will limber his muscles and get him out of old habits so that he can learnstrange sounds and learn linguistic principles. If God is call ing He will accept no excuses. He says to Moses, “Go! I will be with thy mouth.” God, the Holy Spirit, promised by Jesus Christ, will teach us those things concerning the Sav iour we need to remember. He’s put them down in His Word preserved through the centuries so that the text is in a written form in our hands. In that way we can carefully, meticu lously, painstakingly, and prayer fully take that Word and put it into other languages. Will you be a mouth piece for God? He’ll help you so that you’ll know what to say. There’s no excuse because of language de ficiency or inadequacy. Moses who was skilled in all of the wisdom of the Egyptians claimed he wasn’t competent. This shows us that it was a spiritual problem, not an intellec tual one. It wasn’t his knowledge that gave him the handicap, it was his will. Spiritual pride stood in the way. You and I can think of a thou sand excuses why we shouldn’t do God’s will. But I tell you, the Lord’s promises are sure. If it has anything to do with language and language learning, you can trust God to give you the training. He’ll also endow you with the ability, the flexibility, and the facility to speak that lan guage adequately in order to com-
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