I have read the book of Exodus and have heard these stories over and over, but have never seen how God used different women to accomplish his will! He uses the following women to preserve his people:
~Shiphrah and Puah (Hebrew midwives)
~Moses' mother
~Moses' sister
~Pharaoh's daughter
~Zipporah (Moses' wife)
Exodus begins with the Pharaoh realizing how great the people of Israel had become in number and strength and for fear that war would break out against the Egyptians he made the people of Israel work as slaves. Then to make matters worse he commanded that the Hebrew midwives kill all sons born! And there we see a pillar of strength! These midwives, Shiphrah and Puah specifically, feared God more than they feared the king of Egypt. God used these two godly women to preserve his people! They did not do as the king said, but rather let the male children live. Verse 20 of chapter 1 says, "So God dealt well with the midwives. And the people multiplied and grew very strong. And because the midwives feared God, he gave them families." God will always bless us for doing what is right just as he blessed these midwives!
Then Pharaoh decides to command every son born to the Hebrew's to be cast into the Nile.
A Levite couple gives birth to a son. This son was good, and healthy. Knowing the command given by Pharaoh this woman hides her son for 3 months. He really must have been good to be kept hidden for so long! Well, when this woman could no longer hide her son, she made a basket out of bulrushes (papyrus reeds), placed her precious son in the basket, and placed the basket among the reeds by the river. This brave woman was Moses' mother. She knew she could not cast her precious son into the Nile as Pharaoh has commanded. So she did what she could to preserve his life! And oh did God bless her!!
This little boys sister stood a little distance away from where her brother was placed into the river by his mother to see what would happen. Obviously, she must have loved her little brother because this simple act showed how she cared. Well, after a time, Pharaoh's daughter came to bathe in the river. She saw the basket and sent her servant to grab it. Pharaoh's daughter opens the basket and saw the child. He began to cry and Pharaoh's daughter took pity on him and saw he was one of the Hebrews' children. Moses' sister then comes to Pharaoh's daughter and says "Shall I go and call you a nurse from the Hebrew women to nurse the child for you?" Pharaoh's daughter agrees and Moses' sister ran and called her mother! So, then Pharaoh's daughter says to Moses' mother, " Take this child away and nurse him for me, and I will give you your wages."
Oh! How God blessed the faithfulness of these women! Here was a mother who could not commit such a sin of killing her own son, and how God blessed her! She was paid to care for her son! And this sister who was brave and cared for her little brother and who God used to work his mighty plan in the life of Moses and the children of Israel! But there is one more woman that God used!
Moses, after he fled from Pharaoh to the land of Midian, took a wife from the priest of Midian. Her name was Zipporah. After God commands Moses through the burning bush to lead the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt the Lord sought to put Moses to death because he had failed to circumcise his son. This command to circumcise goes back to the covenant God made with Abraham. Well, Zipporah steps in and takes care of the circumcision and once again Moses' life is preserved thanks to a godly woman!
In just 4 chapters we are introduced to 6 women who God used mightily to accomplish his will in the life of Moses and in the lives of the children of Israel! God used these women to preserve his people! Guess what! God can use us even today to accomplish His perfect will in the lives of those around us and in the lives of future generations. How are you doing? How would you rank your faithfulness? Would you be able to have the strength to do what was right if placed in the situations these women were placed in? Do you fear God more than you fear man? Let us strive to be faithful women! We don't know what kind of impact our decisions to follow God will have on the lives around us or the lives of those who come after us!
Thursday, November 15, 2012
Tuesday, November 13, 2012
How Do We Respond to Trials??
I have finished the book of Job and I feel like I have been on a journey of my own. While reading Job I also read a book about a trial (it was fiction, but it followed the story of Job), and I heard sermons about trials, and I just started Cary Schmidt's book "Off Script." I don't know what God is doing in my life, but I feel he is preparing my heart for something or maybe showing me that how I have previously responded to past trials was not correct. We all have/will experience trials in our lives. We each have a choice of how we will respond during those trials. Will we wrestle or will we rest?
Having just finished up the book of Job, I can see a man who did question why he went through such a trial as he did. I can understand his question. He lost everything within what seems like just hours. His friends came to him and basically commanded him to repent because surely Job had some wicked sin in his life that caused these horrible things to occur. But Job searched his heart and knew that was not so. Did Job ever get the answer to his question of 'Why?" Not that we can see. Instead, God answered Job by describing how God was in control of everything and is mighty above even the greatest of creation! And then God blesses Job and increases all that he had!
Isaiah 43:2 says "When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through the fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you.
It is not a matter of if you enter a storm of life, but rather when. We will all face storms in our lives. We will all go through trials where we feel we cannot go on any longer. I have gone through a few huge trials in my life. Does that mean I will not see trials any longer? No! They will continue to come. I just need to be ready and prepared to cling to God, knowing that this was all in His plan for my life even when I do not know why.
I love how Cary Schmidt describes a trial in his book "Off Script". This is what he shared with his children when he shared with them they would be experiencing a trial with his news of cancer. Here is what he says, "...a trial is like a precious treasure that God places in our hands and loans to us. It's a trust---a sacred trust. It's an opportunity to show His grace and goodness to others, and to be used by God in a very special way. God doesn't give trials to someone unless He has a special plan to use it. And this means He wants to use us---so I want us to respond the right way and honor the Lord through this."
We can clearly see how God used Job and his trial in just this very way!
We do not know when we will be faced with a trial. It could come at any time in the form of a phone call, an email, a letter in the mail, etc. But the truth is that we will all be faced with trials at some point in our lives. Will we allow those trials to torment us and steer us far away from God? Or will we allow those trials to mould and shape us to be more like Christ and to allow Christ to be seen more clearly in our lives?
That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ: 1 Peter 1:7
Having just finished up the book of Job, I can see a man who did question why he went through such a trial as he did. I can understand his question. He lost everything within what seems like just hours. His friends came to him and basically commanded him to repent because surely Job had some wicked sin in his life that caused these horrible things to occur. But Job searched his heart and knew that was not so. Did Job ever get the answer to his question of 'Why?" Not that we can see. Instead, God answered Job by describing how God was in control of everything and is mighty above even the greatest of creation! And then God blesses Job and increases all that he had!
Isaiah 43:2 says "When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through the fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you.
It is not a matter of if you enter a storm of life, but rather when. We will all face storms in our lives. We will all go through trials where we feel we cannot go on any longer. I have gone through a few huge trials in my life. Does that mean I will not see trials any longer? No! They will continue to come. I just need to be ready and prepared to cling to God, knowing that this was all in His plan for my life even when I do not know why.
I love how Cary Schmidt describes a trial in his book "Off Script". This is what he shared with his children when he shared with them they would be experiencing a trial with his news of cancer. Here is what he says, "...a trial is like a precious treasure that God places in our hands and loans to us. It's a trust---a sacred trust. It's an opportunity to show His grace and goodness to others, and to be used by God in a very special way. God doesn't give trials to someone unless He has a special plan to use it. And this means He wants to use us---so I want us to respond the right way and honor the Lord through this."
We can clearly see how God used Job and his trial in just this very way!
We do not know when we will be faced with a trial. It could come at any time in the form of a phone call, an email, a letter in the mail, etc. But the truth is that we will all be faced with trials at some point in our lives. Will we allow those trials to torment us and steer us far away from God? Or will we allow those trials to mould and shape us to be more like Christ and to allow Christ to be seen more clearly in our lives?
That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ: 1 Peter 1:7
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