Tuesday, May 13, 2014

May 14, 2014

"Now a man of the tribe of Levi married a Levite woman, and she became pregnant and gave birth to a son. When she saw that he was a fine child, she hid him for three months. But when she could hide him no longer, she got a papyrus basket for him and coated it with tar and pitch. Then she placed the child in it and put it among the reeds along the bank of the Nile.  His sister stood at a distance to see what would happen to him. Then Pharaoh’s daughter went down to the Nile to bathe, and her attendants were walking along the riverbank. She saw the basket among the reeds and sent her female slave to get it. She opened it and saw the baby. He was crying, and she felt sorry for him. “This is one of the Hebrew babies,” she said. Then his sister asked Pharaoh’s daughter, “Shall I go and get one of the Hebrew women to nurse the baby for you?” “Yes, go,” she answered. So the girl went and got the baby’s mother. Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Take this baby and nurse him for me, and I will pay you.” So the woman took the baby and nursed him. When the child grew older, she took him to Pharaoh’s daughter and he became her son. She named him Moses, saying, “I drew him out of the water.” One day, after Moses had grown up, he went out to where his own people were and watched them at their hard labor. He saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his own people. Looking this way and that and seeing no one, he killed the Egyptian and hid him in the sand. The next day he went out and saw two Hebrews fighting. He asked the one in the wrong, “Why are you hitting your fellow Hebrew?” The man said, “Who made you ruler and judge over us? Are you thinking of killing me as you killed the Egyptian?” Then Moses was afraid and thought, “What I did must have become known.” When Pharaoh heard of this, he tried to kill Moses, but Moses fled from Pharaoh and went to live in Midian, where he sat down by a well.  Exodus 2:1-15

Moses' name was given to him by his Egyptian mother and it essentially meant "delivered from the water",

Isn't it just like God to transform one who has been delivered into a deliverer?! The story of how it happened is inspiring!

Because of God's blessing on His people, even in the midst of their captivity, the Hebrew women were giving birth at a rate that was swelling the population of Hebrews. The Pharaoh was good at math and understood that when the number of captives became equal to or greater than the number of Egyptians, they could pose a threat to their captors.

To make sure that the math never worked to his disadvantage, Pharaoh deciding to do some population control put out a decree that all male Hebrews born were to be tossed into the Nile river and drowned. Many were.

But Moses' mother came up with a plan to save her son. She crafted a plan to save her son from death. A clever plan it was, too! She wove a basket of reeds, covered it with pitch so it would float and be waterproof then she placed the baby Moses into the basket and laid it in the reeds at the edge of the Nile River and posted his sister as a sentry to guard him.

As Providence would have it, the daughter of the Pharaoh came to the river to bathe and chose a spot near where Moses was hidden and spotted the basket floating among the reeds. When she saw that he was a beautiful and healthy baby boy, God put it in her heart to love this child even though she knew he was a Hebrew.

Not only did this princess adopt "Moses" to be her son but she hired his sister and mother to care for him!

Isn't amazing how God can deliver His people?

Isn't it inspiring how He can use the circumstances threatening to destroy us as a way of delivering us?

He delivered Moses so Moses could become His deliverer!

That's what He did for Moses and He can do it for you!

Do you believe it?