
BEFORE God can use us, He must bring us to an end of ourselves. When Paul was  summoned to the greatest epistles and labors of his life, his strength was  drained to utter weakness, and he despaired even of life. So in the case of  Moses and Israel.
Moses, for forty years, had been undergoing the  emptying process; but perhaps when God called him to this great enterprise,  there may have been a slight revival of confidence in himself, in his mission,  his miracles, the eloquence of Aaron's speech. So in the rebuff he received from  Pharaoh, in the bitter remonstrances of the elders of his people, in the sad  consciousness that his efforts had aggravated their condition, the lesson was  still further taught him - that of himself he could do absolutely  nothing.
Israel also had begun to hope something from his mission. Through  the brickfields the story ran of his early years, his uncompromising speech to  Pharaoh, of his miracles; and the wretched slaves cherished faith in him and  Aaron as their heaven-sent deliverers. They had, however, to learn that all such  hopes were vain, and to see that the brothers, at the best, were as weak as  themselves. Then the way was prepared to lean only on God.
Ourselves. -  By repeated failures all along our life-course God is teaching us the same  lesson. We fail to justify and then to sanctify ourselves. Our efforts to serve  and please Him only end in increasing perplexity. The tale of bricks is doubled;  the burdens augment; the strength of our purpose is broken; we are utterly  discouraged; and then, when the soul is utterly desolate, the heavenly  Bridegroom draws near and says, "I will do all; I am Alpha and Omega; I am thy  salvation."