By faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing
the wrath of the king: for he endured,
as seeing Him who is invisible. Through
faith he kept the passover, and the
sprinkling of blood, lest he that
destroyed the firstborn should
touch them. By faith they passed
through the Red Sea as by dry land:
which the Egyptians assaying to do
were drowned. By faith the walls
of Jericho fell down, after they
were compassed about seven days.
by faith the harlot Rahab perished not
with them that believed not, when
she had received the pies with peace.
Hebrews 11:27-31
The story of Moses is a very familiar story, most Christians can recite it with much accuracy for it is told so often. Nothing wrong by telling this narrative often so long as it does not lose its meaning and become just another story. The mother of Moses demonstrates faith and acts upon her faith by which she saved Moses from a certain death. What the Pharaoh was doing to protect his kingdom by killing newborn boys was evil but God had plans greater than the plan of the Pharaoh and His plans will always succeed. The mother of Moses took the baby Moses and laid him in a basket that could float on water and hid him among the reeds. To ensure the safety of Moses, the sister of Moses watched over him. A daughter of the Pharoah was at the river and apparently had a heart that did not necessarily agree with her father's decree so that when she saw baby Moses her heart was filled with love and decided to save him. The players were are set in their right places for this act of God towards His people. God uses means to accomplish His purposes and the means were, the faith of the mother of Jesus, the sister of Moses and the daughter of the Pharaoh, all came together for one purpose even though the no one knew that all this was to fulfill the will and purpose of God, they were doing what they felt needed to be done. God uses means and even though the Pharaoh had decreed to kill baby Hebrew boys he did not turn away the desires of his daughter. More was to happen for this baby boy needed milk, to eat, to grow up, and for this to happen it would require a woman who had given birth and had breast milk to give, here is where Moses' sister came into play, she told Pharaoh's daughter where to find such a "midwife," and this was the mother of Moses. This compassionate daughter gave Moses to his mother to feed him and raise him and then to bring him to the house of the Pharaoh (Genesis 2:10). By all this Moses was reared and taught all about Jehovah God and yet, he did not know that he would be used by God, saved by God for this use and that use would not come quickly, but it would come for this was the will of God to save His people and to bring them to the land of promise.
Lesson for us: We do not always know what the will of God is for us and a problem arises when we move ahead of the will of God. This was shown by the example of Abraham, and even by Moses who killed a man and had to flee into a land far away. Too often we will not wait upon God and take matters into our own hands not knowing that God has set in place all the players that would accomplish His will for us. A great lesson is that of faith, not faith in knowing for this is not faith, but faith in the unseen God and in the unseen purposes for each of us, a faith that is one of action and God then uses our action to accomplish His will through us. We do not wait for God to move us, the mother of Moses did not have God supernaturally tell her to put Moses in the water and hide him, she did it for the love of her child and her faith was that God would save him: and He did!
We know the story about the Red Sea and how God parted the waters and made dry land for the Hebrews to pass over and then to destroy the army of the Pharaoh when they tried to overtake them. It looked bad: standing at the edge of the water and army of Pharaoh moving quickly against them and time was running out: it looked hopeless. But, God had a purpose, first to save His people and second to destroy those who were coming to destroy them.
Does it look hopeless to you? Are you in fear of your life or some circumstance that you have little or no control over? God commanded Moses to put his staff in the water and it parted and the Hebrews passed safely. God will part the water for you and bring you to the promised land: heaven and those who desire to destroy you will instead be destroyed. God is in control. If you have the ability to do something about your circumstance, do it. But if that is not the case then God will care for you and protect you for you have no control to save yourself. This may mean your demise but what kind of demise is it? If you are an Authentic Christian this worldly demise is only a stepping into the heavenly kingdom of God.
Even Rahab, a non-Hebrew found favor in the eyes of God for she protected those Hebrew spies from those who would kill them for she as the world knew about them, those Hebrews and their God. For forty years the Hebrews wandered in the desert and the story about how they were saved from Pharaoh certainly was know so she know about their God and had faith in Him. She was saved from death and those who would not believed died as a result of the non-belief. A day is coming when those who will not believe will be destroyed and all those who have faith in God, in His Son Jesus Christ who is the Savior will be saved. These examples should bolster our faith leading us to serve God and not be afraid of those who can kill the body but cannot kill the soul (Matthew 10:28).
The story of Moses is more than a story, it is for us what it means to have faith and be faithful. God is Merciful, full of Love, and Gracious and is in control. We must allow Him to have full control and then all that God had promised His children will be fulfilled. We have every reason to praise our God!
Sanctify the LORD of hosts Himself;
and let Him be your fear, and let
Him be your dread. And He shall be
for a sanctuary; but for a stone
of stumbling and for a rock of offence
to both the houses of Israel, for a
gin and for a snare to the inhabitants
of Jerusalem.....And I will wait upon
the LORD, that hideth His face from
the house of Jacob, and I will look for Him.
Isaiah 8:13-14, 17
Wait upon the Lord and you will be saved
Richard L. Crumb
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