Then Moses was content to live with the man [the priest of Midian] Exodus 2:21.

The human element is seen in all who have been chosen to accomplish a work for God…. Connected with God, the source of all wisdom, individuals may reach any height of moral excellence….

Moses had been learning much which he must unlearn. The influence which had surrounded him in Egypt—the love of his adopted mother, his own high position as the king’s grandson, the enchantments of grandeur in art, the dissipation on every hand, the imposing display connected with the idolatrous worship, and the constant repetition, by the priests, of countless fables concerning the power of their gods—all had left deep impressions upon his developing mind and had molded, to some extent, his habits and character. These impressions, time, change of surroundings, and close connection with God could remove. Yet it must be by earnest, persevering effort, a struggle as for life, with himself, to uproot the seeds of error, and in their place have truth firmly implanted. At every point Satan would be prepared to strengthen error and dislodge truth, but while God designed that Moses should be self-trained by severe discipline, He Himself would be his ever-ready helper against Satan when the conflict should be too severe for human strength….

The light of nature and that of revelation are from the same source, teaching grand truths and always agreeing with each other. As Moses saw that all God’s created works act in sublime harmony with His laws, he realized how unreasonable it is for humans to array themselves in opposition to the law of God. The conflict was most trying, the effort long, to bring heart and mind on all points in harmony with truth and with heaven; but Moses was finally a victor….

As year after year passed by and left the servant of God still in his humble position, it would have seemed to one of less faith than he as if God had forgotten him, as if his ability and experience were to be lost to the world. But as he wandered with his silent flocks in solitary places, the abject condition of his people was ever before him. He recounted all God’s dealings with the faithful in ages past and His promises of future good, and his soul went out toward God in behalf of his brethren in bondage, and his fervent prayers echoed amid the mountain caverns by day and by night. He was never weary of presenting before God the promises made to His people, and pleading with Him for their deliverance.—Signs of the Times, February 19, 1880.

From From the Heart

The children of Israel groaned because of the bondage, and they cried out; and their cry came up to God because of the bondage. Exodus 2:23.

Moses had become, in every sense, a great man. As a writer, as a military leader, and as a philosopher, he had no superior. Love of truth and righteousness had become the basis of his character and had produced a steadfastness of purpose which no fickleness of fashion, opinion, or pursuits could influence. Courtesy, diligence, and a firm trust in God marked his life. He was young and vigorous, overflowing with energy and manly strength. He had deeply sympathized with his brethren in their affliction, and his soul had kindled with a desire to deliver them. Surely, it would appear to human wisdom that he was in every way fitted for his work.

But God seeth not as man sees; His ways are not as ours. Moses is not yet prepared to accomplish this great work; neither are the people prepared for deliverance. He has been educated in the school of Egypt, but he has yet to pass through the stern school of discipline before he is qualified for his sacred mission. Before he can successfully govern the hosts of Israel, he must learn to obey, he must learn self-control. For forty long years he is sent into the retirement of the desert, that, in his life of obscurity, in the humble work of caring for the sheep and lambs of the flock, he may gain the victory over his own passions. He must learn entire submission to the will of God before he can teach that will to a great people.

Short-sighted mortals would have dispensed with that forty years of training amid the mountains of Midian, deeming it a great loss of time. But Infinite Wisdom placed him who was to be the mighty statesman, the deliverer of his people from slavery, in circumstances during this period to develop his honesty, his forethought, his faithfulness and caretaking, and his ability to identify himself with the necessities of his dumb charge. Those to whom God has entrusted important responsibilities have not been brought up in ease and luxury; the noble prophets, the leaders and judges of God’s appointment, have been those whose characters were formed by the stern realities of life.

God does not select for His work persons of one mold and one temperament only, but individuals of varied temperaments.—Signs of the Times, February 19, 1880.

From From the Heart

You meant evil against me; but God meant it for good, in order to bring it about as it is this day, to save many people alive. Genesis 50:20.

Jacob predicted a cheerful future for most of his sons. Especially for Joseph he uttered words of eloquence of a happy character: “Joseph is a fruitful bough, even a fruitful bough by a well; whose branches run over the wall: the archers have sorely grieved him, and shot at him, and hated him: but his bow abode in strength, and the arms of his hands were made strong by the hands of the mighty God of Jacob.” …

The life of Joseph illustrates the life of Christ. Joseph’s brethren proposed to kill him but were finally content to sell him as a slave to prevent his becoming greater than themselves. They thought they had placed him where they would be no more troubled with his dreams and where there would not be a possibility of their fulfillment. But the very course which they pursued, God overruled to bring about that which they designed never should take place—that he should have dominion over them….

Joseph walked with God. And when he was imprisoned and suffered because of his innocence, he meekly bore it without murmuring. His self-control, his patience in adversity, and his unwavering fidelity are left on record for the benefit of all who should afterward live on the earth….

The life of Jesus, the Savior of the world, was a pattern of benevolence, goodness, and holiness. Yet He was despised and insulted, mocked and derided, for no other reason than because His righteous life was a constant rebuke to sin. His enemies would not be satisfied until He was given into their hands, that they might put Him to a shameful death. He died for the guilty race and, while suffering the most cruel torture, meekly forgave His murderers. He rose from the dead, ascended up to His Father, and received all power and authority, and returned to the earth again to impart it to His disciples. He “gave gifts unto men.” And all who have ever come to Him repentant, confessing their sins, He has received into His favor and freely pardoned. And if they remain true to Him, He will exalt them to His throne and make them His heirs to the inheritance which He has purchased with His own blood.—Signs of the Times, February 5, 1880.

From From the Heart

“I will provide for you and your little ones.” And he comforted them and spoke kindly to them. Genesis 50:21.

The sons of Jacob returned to their father with the joyful tidings, “Joseph is yet alive, and he is governor over all the land of Egypt.” At first the old man was overwhelmed; he could not believe what he heard, yet their words brought a faintness to his heart. But when he saw the carriages and the long line of loaded animals, and when Benjamin was at his side once more, he felt reassured and, in the fullness of his joy, exclaimed, “It is enough; Joseph my son is yet alive: I will go and see him before I die.” The brothers then made their humiliating confession to their father and entreated his forgiveness for their wicked treatment of Joseph. Jacob had not suspected them of such cruelty, but he saw that God had overruled it all for good, and he forgave and blessed his erring children….

In a vision of the night the divine words came to Jacob, “Fear not to go down into Egypt; for I will there make of thee a great nation. I will go down with thee into Egypt; and I will also surely bring thee up again: and Joseph shall put his hand upon thine eyes.”

The meeting of Joseph and his father was very affective. Joseph left his chariot and ran to meet his father on foot and embraced him, and they wept over each other. “And Israel said unto Joseph, Now let me die, since I have seen thy face, because thou art yet alive.” …

[Jacob’s] last years were more peaceful. His sons had turned from their evil ways, Joseph had been restored to him, and, surrounded by every comfort which the prime minister of Egypt could bestow, and in the society of his children, he passed down gently and calmly toward the grave.

A short time before his death, his children gathered about him to receive his blessing and to listen to his last words of counsel. As he addressed them for the last time, the Spirit of God rested upon him, and he laid open before them their past lives and also uttered prophecies which reached far into the future….

Jacob was an affectionate father. He had no resentful feelings toward his sorrowing children. He had forgiven them. He loved them to the last. But God, by the Spirit of prophecy, elevated the mind of Jacob above his natural feelings. In his last hours, angels were all around him, and the power of God rested upon him.—Signs of the Times, February 5, 1880.

From From the Heart

Surely the Lord is in this place, and I did not know it. Genesis 28:16.

Jacob awoke with a solemn sense of the presence of God…. Through the Spirit of God, the plan of redemption was revealed to him, not fully, but such parts as it was essential for him to know. The time of Christ’s first advent was yet far in the future, but God would not let His servant remain in ignorance of the fact that sinful men and women have been provided an Advocate with the Father.

Up to the time of Adam and Eve’s rebellion against the government of God, there had been free communion with God. Heaven and earth had been connected by a path that the Lord loved to traverse. But the sin of Adam and Eve separated earth from heaven. The curse of sin was upon the human race and was so offensive to God that fallen humanity could have no communion with their Maker, however much they might desire it. They could not climb the battlements of heaven and enter the city of God, for there entereth into it nothing that defileth. The ladder represents Jesus, the appointed medium of communication. Had He not with His own merits bridged the gulf that sin had made, the ministering angels, ascending and descending on that ladder, would have held no communication with sinners.

All this was revealed to Jacob in his dream. Although his mind at once grasped a part of the revelation, its great and mysterious truths were the study of his lifetime and unfolded to his understanding more and more. In his conversation with Nathanael, Jesus referred to this mystic ladder on which Jacob gazed with pleased wonder. Said He, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, Hereafter ye shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of man.”

It is our lifework to commence at the lowest round of the ladder and step by step to ascend toward heaven…. We ascend by successive steps. When we let go of one round, it is to grasp another that is still higher. Thus the hand is constantly reaching upward for successive degrees of grace, and the feet are planted on one round after another, until finally an abundant entrance shall be administered to us into the kingdom of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.—Signs of the Times, July 31, 1884.

From From the Heart