Several states were hit very hard by tornados this weekend. Kentucky is reporting that as many as 100 people may have been killed in their state by the event. A new strain of the Corona Virus is headed our way as the current pandemic continues to take lives. Looking back in history, the world constantly has headlines like these, and it was no different during the time when Moses lived. Imagine what it must have been like to have to hide your baby to keep him from being killed. During difficult times and disasters, we often ask ourselves, “Where is God? Does He care? Why has He not done anything about this? Why did He let this happen?” These are some of the questions that people ask when going thru dark times. Is there a biblical answer to questions like these?
“Now a man from the house of Levi went and married a daughter of Levi. The woman conceived and bore a son; and when she saw that he was beautiful, she hid him for three months. But when she could hide him no longer, she got him a wicker basket and covered it over with tar and pitch. Then she put the child into it and set it among the reeds by the bank of the Nile. His sister stood at a distance to find out what would happen to him.”
“The daughter of Pharaoh came down to bathe at the Nile, with her maidens walking alongside the Nile; and she saw the basket among the reeds and sent her maid, and she brought it to her. When she opened it, she saw the child, and behold, the boy was crying. And she had pity on him and said, “This is one of the Hebrews’ children.” Then his sister said to Pharaoh’s daughter, “Shall I go and call a nurse for you from the Hebrew women that she may nurse the child for you?” Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Go ahead.” So the girl went and called the child’s mother. Then Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Take this child away and nurse him for me and I will give you your wages.” So the woman took the child and nursed him. The child grew, and she brought him to Pharaoh’s daughter and he became her son. And she named him Moses, and said, “Because I drew him out of the water.” (Exodus 2:1-10)
When Moses was born, Pharaoh’s plan to use the midwives had failed, so he had instructed the entire population of Egypt to join the effort to kill the baby Hebrew males (Exodus 1:22). Moses was born into a world that had pronounced a death sentence on his life. His mother had hidden him for as long as she could. But he was too old to hide now. We don’t know the details, maybe the Egyptians were going door to door regularly, checking for babies. Who knows. Clearly the situation was desperate, and she takes action, putting him into a basket and setting him in the reeds along the bank of the Nile River. What she did not know is that God had plans for this baby boy. Big plans. This baby, born to slaves in a foreign land, born under a death sentence, would be used by God to change the world.
When we are faced with dark times, we often try to deal with it on our own. We “hide our baby boy” so to speak, trying to defeat the darkness on our own, in our own power, with the means and capabilities that we have. And we can pull this off for a while. But eventually, the “baby gets too old”, and it becomes apparent that we are going to fail. Our efforts are not enough. The darkness we are facing is too great. We do not have the resources, power, or skills needed. In Zechariah we read:
“Then he said to me, “This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel saying, ‘Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,’ says the Lord of hosts. ‘What are you, O great mountain? Before Zerubbabel you will become a plain; and he will bring forth the top stone with shouts of “Grace, grace to it!”’” (Zechariah 4:6-7)
God is in the business of leveling mountains. He specializes in doing the impossible. There is no task too big or too difficult for Him to accomplish. Jesus said that “all things are possible with God” (Mark 10:27). When Moses’ mother puts him in the basket and sets him into the reeds of the Nile, it is a picture of us taking the challenge that we are facing in our life, and putting it into God’s hands. We must stop trying to “save the baby” by our “might” and our “power”. We must turn it over to God, and let Him accomplish it by “His Spirit”.
God wants us to trust Him with everything in our lives, even our most precious things, like our baby son, and hand them over to Him. She did not know how it would turn out, and neither do we. There comes a time in our lives when we must turn the thing over to God. We have done all that we know to do. It is time to turn it over to God now, and watch and see what He does, just as Moses’ sister hid nearby and watched to see what Moses’ fate would be. When we are faced with difficulties in life, especially when it is out of our control to deal with it, God wants us to entrust it to Him, so that He can work in that situation to accomplish His purposes in our life. He wants to show up, but we must let Him by releasing the “baby” into the Nile.
Moses’ mother trusts her baby to God’s care, and the next thing she knows, Pharaoh’s daughter has not only saved him, but has asked her to raise him for her. How crazy is that? Compare that to what her situation would have been like if she had continued to hide him and try to solve the problem in her own power – how would that have gone for her? Would we have even heard of Moses if she had done that? God wants us to turn these things over to Him so He can use them to accomplish His purposes in our lives. It is critical that we turn our “hidden babies” over to God so He can work His miraculous works in our lives.
What are some of the things in your life today that you have been struggling with? What are you worrying about? Where do you need God to show up and make a difference? What thing are you facing that is out of your control? What “baby” (or babies) are you hiding in your house? Where have you reached the end of yourself, the end of what you can do? What thing in your life do you need to turn over to God right now, today? What would it look like for you to “put the baby in a basket and set it in the Nile”? What steps do you need to take in order to turn this thing in your life over to God so He can take it and act on it, and ultimately work miraculously in your life? Many times we have no miracles in our lives because we are still hiding our “baby” rather than turning it over to God.
By placing Moses in the basket and setting him in the Nile, Moses’ mother set in motion a series of events that God would use to change the entire world. She could have continued to hide him, trying to defy the Egyptian darkness in her own power and abilities. Eventually he would probably have been discovered and killed, and we would never have heard of Moses. But she didn’t do that. She realized her limitations and that she had reached the end of what she could do. She turned his life over to God. She trusted that God would show up and do something miraculous. And He did.
God used her faith and trust in Him to give us the Ten Commandments, the Passover story, to set the Hebrew slaves free, which led to their survival as a people. Centuries later we read of the birth of another baby Hebrew boy, this one named Jesus, who became the deliverer not just of the Hebrew people but of the entire world. This one act of trusting God by this loving mother led to me writing this blog tonight, and to you reading it. Her act of faith was used by God to change the world beyond anything she could possibly have imagined.
What one act of faith and trust in God do you need to make today? Maybe it is your marriage, your job, a child, your health, a parent, a friend, your business, etc. Or maybe you are struggling with some sin and you just can’t get victory over it. Maybe it is something really big and out of your control that you now have to deal with, like a tornado wiping out your entire house, which is a situation some people in Kentucky are now facing. Or maybe you have not trusted God with your life yet, and you need to be born again by faith in Jesus Christ. Whatever “baby” you may be hiding in your house, I encourage you to ask yourself today what it is that you need to entrust to God, then “put it in the basket and set it in the Nile” so to speak, turning it over to God. Then watch, as Moses’ sister did, and see what God will do with it.
Lord God almighty, I come before you in Jesus name, and confess that I need to trust you with _______________________ . I have done all that I can, and it is time for me to trust You with it. I pray that you would show up, as you did for Moses, and work miraculously in my life through my act of faith and trust in You. I turn ______________________ over to you. I am placing ______________________ in the “basket” and “setting it in the Nile” so to speak. I pray that you would use this like you used Moses, and turn it into something great, that Your name would be glorified in all the earth, and that Your ways may be more fully known. Thank You, Lord God almighty, for hearing my prayer. I pray these things in Jesus name, amen.
The Lord is my shepherd,
I shall not want.
He makes me to lie down in green pastures;
He leads me beside the still waters.
He restores my soul;
He guides me in the paths of righteousness
For His name’s sake.
Yea though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil, for You are with me;
Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.
You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies;
You have anointed my head with oil;
My cup overflows.
Surely goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life,
And I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever
Psalm 23
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