January 11

1 Now Moses kept the flock of Jethro his father in law, the priest of Midian; and he led the flock to the back side of the desert, and came to the mountain of God, even to H. re. 2 And the Angel of the Lord appeared into 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. 3 And Moses said, I will now turn aside,

and see this great sight, why the bush is not burnt.

4 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 5 And he said, Draw not high hither: put on the shoes from off thy feet; for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground. 6 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.

7 ¶ And the LORD said, I have surely seen the affliction of my people which are in Egypt, and have heard their cry by reason of their task-masters; for I know their sorrows:

8 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 Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Perizzines, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites.

9 Now therefore, behold, the cry of the children of Israel is come unto me; and I have also seen the oppression wherewith the Egyptians oppress them

10 Come now therefore, and I will send thee unto Pharaoh, that thou mayest bring forth my people the children of Israel out of Egypt.

11 ¶ 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?

12 And he said, Certainly I will be with thee; and this shall be a token unto thee, that I have sent thee: When thou hast brought forth the people out of Egypt, ye shall serve God upon this mountain.

13 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?

14 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

15 And God said moreover unto Moses, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, The LORD God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, hath sent me unto you; this is my name for ever, and this is my memorial unto all generations

16 Go, and gather the elders of Israel together, and say unto them, The LORD God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, appeared unto me, saying, I have surely visited you, and seen that which is done to you in Egypt:

17 And I have said, I will bring you up out of the affliction of Egypt unto the land of the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Perizzines, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites, unto a land flowing with milk and honey.

18 And they shall be taken to thy voice: and thou shalt come, thou and the elders of Israel, unto the king of Egypt, and ye shall say unto him, The LORD God of the Hebrews hath met with us: and now let us go, we beseech thee, three days' journey into the wilderness, that we may sacrifice to the LORD our God.

He who, forty years before, was so eager to become the deliverer of the children of Israel that he ran without being sent, is now strangely reluctant to undertake the work. Moses had learned his own insufficiency.

Let us learn not to be impatient for the discovery of our true life-work. Moses was eighty years old before he entered upon that noble career by which he became the emancipator and educator of his nation. Two-thirds of his days were gone before he really touched that which was his great, distinctive, and peculiar labor, and his enterprise was all the more gloriously accomplished by reason of the delay

"So let no one chafc and fret over the delay which seems evermore to keep him from doing anything to purpose for the world and his Lord. The opportunity will come in its own season. It does come, sooner or later, to every man; and it is well if, when at length he hears the voice calling, 'Moses! Moses!' he is ready with the answer, 'Here am I.' For while I would comfort you with the assurance that the hour will come, I do not mean that you should be idle until it strikes. No; for if you adopt such a plan, the certainty is that you will not hear its stroke, or that you will not be ready to begin at its call. The true principle is to do with your might that which is lying at your hand day by day, in the firm conviction that you are thereby training yourself into fitness for your future vocation. Moses was as observant as a shepherd as he had been diligent as a student; and when at length his higher work opened up before him, he saw how it lifted up into itself and utilized all the knowledge which he had acquired in his lower pursuits. . . . Prepare yourself for wielding your sceptre when it comes, by doing with all fidelity the duties of your present sphere."—W. M. Taylor, D. D.

Closet Promise.— And God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work.—2 Cor. ix. 8.

"God's interested 'All.' O wondrous word of peace and power! Touching with its tuneful fall, The rising of each hidden hour, All the day.

"He shall all your need supply, And He will make all grace abound; Always all sufficiency In Him for all things shall be found, For to day." —F. R. Havergal.