Beginning of the End - Ellen G. White

prepared to take first place among the great people of the earth, to
shine in the courts of its most glorious kingdom, and to wield its
scepter of power. As historian, poet, philosopher, general of armies,
and legislator, he stands without an equal. Yet with the world before
him, he had the moral strength to refuse wealth, greatness, and fame,
"choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God."
The magnificent palace of Pharaoh and the throne were held
out as an enticement to Moses; but he knew that in its lordly courts
were the sinful pleasures that make people forget God. He looked
beyond the palace, beyond a monarch's crown, to the high honors
that the saints of the Most High will receive in a kingdom untainted
by sin. By faith he saw an everlasting crown that the King of heaven
would place on the head of the overcomer. This faith led him to join
the humble, poor, despised nation that had chosen to obey God
rather than to serve sin.
Moses remained at the royal court until he was forty years old.
He visited his fellow Israelites in their slavery and encouraged them
with the assurance that God would work for their deliverance. One
day, seeing an Egyptian beating an Israelite, he sprang forward and
killed the Egyptian. Other than the Israelite, no one had witnessed
the deed, and Moses immediately buried the body in the sand. He
had now shown himself ready to take up the cause of his people, and
he hoped to see them rise to recover their liberty. "He supposed that
his brethren would have understood that God would deliver them by
his hand, but they did not understand" (Acts 7:25). They were not
yet prepared for freedom.
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