Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1919-01-11
SUNDAY SCHOOL LESSON
by REV. HUGH t. STEVENSON.

by REV. HUGH T. STEVENSON.
There is no such thing as accidental
choice with God. When Tie selects a
man or woman for q great task
He does not pick out some one who
Just happens to be handy. There is
no Iast-minute piucking of STOP
gap" just some one to fill the bill.
selection, and He only picks out those
who have been fitted for the work.
Take the example of Moses. around
whom centers the lesson of the week.
There were forty long years spent
in the halls of Pharaoh's palace,
drinking in the learning and the wis.,
dom of his age. Then came forty
years, which must have seemed even
longer, while Moses served Jehovah
on the back side of the desert. These
eighty years constituted his time or
training for the work to be done dur
ing the remainder of his lifetime.
Christ Himself spent almost thirty
years in the seclusion of the little
town of Nazareth before beginning
the public proclamation OF the gos-
pei He came to preach.
Again. God picks for positions in
His kingdom those who work and
those who love to work, those VINO
see in their common tasks something
more than the earning of their daily
bread 1t was while Moses was en-
gagged with the rather commonplace
business of taking care of the f1ocks
of Jethro, his father-in-law, that he
had q vision of God and his duty
toward the children of Israel. God
never calls on the lazy or idle when
IL hnlr 10 n
who are already at work. AS we
see in the Scriptures, Gideon was
threshing out the win press. Saul
was looking for the lost cattle. David
was. like Moses. caring for sheep.
Elisha was blowing. Nehemiah was
bearing the wine cup, Peter and An
drew were casting their nets into
the sea. James and John were mend
ing their fishing paraphernalia. Mat
thew was gathering in the customs
taxes and William Carey was pegsing
away cobbling shoes. To all of these
God gave visions while at their daily
tasks.
There in the desert Moses stood be-
fore the burning bush and be-
came aware of the presence OF God
Almighty. The bush was burning but
was not consumed. Is this not en-
Though always expended in nature
and in the lives of men, it is never
consumed and never destroyed; 1t is
eternal and everlasting. Yet the
burning bush might have been passed
by unnoticed and the spiritual signifi-
canoe lost. But not by Moses. who,
during the forty years spent in the
solitude, had been in communion with
God and had been drawn into har-
mony with the spiritual world. Yet
his experience has been shared by 9TH
ers. jeremiah stood before budding
almond tree. which was surrounded on
every side by death, and there he came
to realize the presence of God. Words
worth saw a primrose on rock and
sTt became to him the court Of Deity.
Yes, there are sermons in stones and
more than water in running brooks.
God. who created the world, has left
the divine imprint Of His handiwork
ally minded see it: the rest are as
blind to it as II their eyes were closed.
Like every other perceptive faculty,
the faculties which perceive God be-
come acute and sensitive just In pro-
portion to their use. You should see
the hand of q loving Father IN the
bread that is brought to your table.
You should see Him weeping over
eur great cities JUST as He wept over
Jerusalem You ought to see God in
every act and event of your life. II
you do not, there is present spiritual
blindness more awful than the loss
of earthly vision.
aside to observe the burning bush
He then revealed Himself unto this
humble shepherd. The call was un-
mfstakable and Moses, realizing that
he stood before Jehovah. drew on his
shoes or sandals. This custom pre-
walls In the orient today. mo Brahmin
enters q pagoda. no Moslem mosque.
without FIRST taking on at least his
overseas; and even in Grecian tenn
pies the priests and priestessee per-
formed the services barefoot. When
entering their holy places the Arabs
and SamaritAns. and even the Yezidis
Of Mesopotamia. take on their shoes,
that the places may not be dehled by
the dirt or dust upon them. The place
of the burning bush was holy because
of the presence Of the Holy God, and
putting OF the shoes or sandals was
intended to express not merely re-
spect for the place itself. but that rev.
erence which the inward man owes to
the Holy God"
Moses had some idea OF the great
ness of the work to be done. It call
ed for the highest type OF leadership.
To emancipate the children Of Israel
from the bondage of Egypt was easy
compared with the emancipating them
from their own passions ana fears
But Noses saw the vastness OF his
job and he shrank from 1t, feeling
unequal to 1t. Certainly I will be
with thee" was assurance enough Tor
Moses. There il no finer promise in all
of Gods word Did you ever see a
child hesitate to go into dark room
alone? Then the mother offers to go
along. What q differencei Fear is
banished and in profound trust the
child takes the hand OF the mother
and goes bravely. Too often. like
Moses, the children Of God hold back
fearful and afraid. forgetting that He
never gives q task beyond our
strength and His.
That Jehovah had compassion on
Israel when in bondage and raised
up Moses as a leader is in accord
with the character OF God as we
understand it. The surprise is that
broader purpose than that which con-
cerned solely their race. But they
cherished the same idea as did the
heather nations around them that
each nation had an exclusive claim
on its own deities. The mistake Is
rael made was in not giving her high
rligious conception to the world. The
tragedy Of their history was IN their
desire to keep Jehovah to themselves,
They were the chosen people," but
chosen not for their own glorification
God never calls any one or any ma
ton except for service. But Jesus
opened the kingdom to all believers
and for this many of His fellow
countrymen opposed Him. The doom
of the privileged classes was sealed
with the coming of the Master and
the day of the common people of the
world ushered in. not only in religion,
but in industry and politics as well
We should be Ienient perhaps with
those of Christ's day, for in the TWEEN
tieth century His ideals are Just be-