"And Moses rose up early in the morning and went up unto Mount Sinai. . . . And the Lord. . . stood with him there and proclaimed the name of the Lord. . . and Moses made haste and bowed his head toward the earth and worshipped." (Exod. xxxiv. 4, 5, 8.)
The previous occasion on which Moses went to meet the Lord in the morning was the time of the promulgation of the Law when God was to reveal Himself as the Holy One. The meeting with which we are now concerned was after the transgression of the Law when God was to reveal Himself as the Merciful One (see verses 6 and 7). These two elements should always be united in the morning worship of the Child of God. In our communion with God one morning may be more concerned with surrender in obedience to His will, but the background of all will be the Redeeming Grace which accepts us and makes us fit for His service. Another morning we may be more drawn to worship God as the Merciful and Gracious One, but behind this will be the knowledge of the condition that we are restored to His favour in order to do what is His good pleasure.
Christian, if thou wouldst serve God aright, learn to know Him aright. Arise out of the low lying plains of your own thoughts about Him. Climb the mountain where God will stand beside you and proclaim the Name of the Lord. Rise up early in the morning and come with your confession of laws transgressed, and bring the fleshy tables of your heart, and God will write thereon His Name and His Law, and when you bow your head and worship, as Moses did that early morning upon the mountain, you will receive, like him, power to plead as an intercessor for God's people and receive God's answer, "Behold, I make a covenant: before all thy people I will do marvels".
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Andrew Murray (1828 - 1917)
Brother Andrew Murray was a well-known writer/preacher in South Africa who ministered amongst the Dutch Reformed churches. His writings now are widely accepted by modern evangelicals and he is published more than ever in his life-time.Some of his better known books titles are: "Abide In Christ", "Absolute Surrender," and "Humility." His burden for the body of Christ were teachings on the abiding Spirit of Christ in the believer, the life of faith with God daily, and the life of intercession and prayer in the Church.
Andrew Murray was possibly the strongest spokesman of the Philadelphian age to expound the Body's necessity to abide in Christ, like the Apostle John before him.
Murray was born into a family of four children in the then remote Graaff-Reinet region (near the Cape) of South Africa. Educated in Scotland, which was followed by theological studies in Holland, Andrew returned to his native land to work as a missionary and minister. Given the daunting task of ministering to Bloemfontein, a remote region of 50,000 square miles and 12,000 people beyond the Orange River, Murray already began to sense the need to for the "deeper Christian life".
Though successful in preaching and bringing many to Christ, Murray found many of his greatest lessons in the School of Suffering, as will all who follow in the path of obedience.
Andrew Murray was one of four children born to Pastor Andrew, Sr., and Maria Murray. He was raised in what was considered to be the most remote corner of the world - Graaff-Reinet, South Africa. Educated in Scotland and Holland, in 1848 Andrew, Jr., returned to South Africa as a missionary and minister with the Dutch Reformed Church. His first appointment was to Bloemfontein, a territory of nearly 50,000 square miles and 12,000 people.
Andrew and his brother John had been in close contact with a revival movement in Scotland, an evangelical extension of the ongoing Second Great Awakening in America. He prayed for the same sort of awakening for the church in South Africa and wrote, "My prayer is for revival, but I am held back by the increasing sense of my own unfitness for the work. I lament the awful pride and self complacency that have till now ruled my heart. O that I may be more and more a minister of the Spirit." (J. du Plessis, The Life of Andrew Murray)
In 1860, revival did come to the churches of Cape Town, South Africa, and subsequently spread to surrounding towns and villages. Even remote farms and plantations felt the impact as lives were changed. Where once the churches had not been able to find one man ready to be a leader for God, the revival raised up 50 in Murray's Cape Town parish alone. There were more conversions in one month in that parish than in the whole course of its previous history. (Leona Choy, Andrew Murray: Apostle of Abiding Love)
Greatly concerned for the spiritual guidance of new converts and renewed Christians, Andrew Murray wrote over 240 books. His writings reflect his own longing for a deeper life in Christ and his prayer that others would long for and experience that life as well.