February 1 - Exodus 1:1-2:25,  1 Chronicles 6:1-3, Exodus 3:1-4:17

Good morning everyone,

Exciting reading this morning. Exodus is an amazing book, penned  by Moses to record all the events of Israel while being delivered from Egypt. It begins about four hundred years after the end of the book of Genesis. Joseph had brought his family, of about seventy people, into Egypt and protected them there. After his death, though, as they multiplied into a nation of about three million, Seti I, the new king of Egypt, was looking at the growing number of Israelites and knew he had a problem. The Hittites to the north were already breathing down his neck and although the Israelites, in and of themselves, were really a non-issue, if they joined forces with the Hittites the king would have something to fear and so he forced them into slavery in an effort to eliminate any threat. Yet even under the harsh conditions of slavery the people of Israel continued to grow in number and strength. The king, pharaoh, got desperate to stop their increase in population and ordered all baby boys born to Israelite women to be killed by the Egyptian midwives. That is just wrong.

Today was one of those days of reading, for me, when the Lord took something that I have read many, many times. Scripture I figured I already knew well and opened my eyes to something new in the account of the story. What a blessing! I am just going to share them with you, perhaps you already know them but because God is so great,  I can not keep it to myself. You know what I mean? Thank you for indulging me :-)

So one of the things I learned was, the midwives that tended to the Israelite women were typically barren. Did not know that! But what, with families of their own. Seriously, I just got that today. Love it. They were women who feared the Lord, and honored His orders, over the pharaoh’s. Imagine, if you will, the joy that overflowed in these midwives’ hearts when after, who knows how long, their wombs were opened and they conceived and gave birth to their own child. Way cool! Right?

Also Jochabed, Moses’ mom, saw something special in her son. Now, who doesn’t, right, but she was passionate for him and she acted on it. She put her son’s life in the hands of the Lord. We are told in the King James Version that she, Jochabed, constructed an “ark.” That, “when she could not longer hide him, she took for him an ark of bulrushes, and daubed it with slime and with pitch, and put the child therein; and she laid it in the flags by the river's brink.”

 Get this, this word “ark”, the only other time it is used in Scripture in this manner is when describing what Noah built. I did not know that until yesterday. Love it! Jochabed was a godly woman who knew the the story of a godly man. Coincidence? I think not.

I am confident (well as much as I can be, anyway) she thought “if it worked for Noah, surely it can work for my baby boy.” I feel totally blessed, God pointed out the parallel to me today. It was awesome. I so love my God!

Well, as we all know, pharaoh’s one and only daughter, Thermutus, “happens” to see this baby boy crying and her heart goes out to him, and she picks him up to be her own. She names him Moses, which means “drawn out” and ends up paying Jochabed to nurse her very own child. Is that great or what?

Moses grows up in royalty, with all the benefits of the rich and famous. He commits a crime, murder, and because Pharaoh would be bound to punish him with death if caught, Moses flees for his life. He becomes a shepherd, tending the flock of Jethro, his soon to be father-in-law. One day while he was tending the sheep when, we’re told, the Angel of the Lord appeared to him from a burning bush. “Moses! Moses!” God says, “I’ve got a plan for you. You are going to lead My people out of Egypt” 

Imagine the look on the face of Moses, all that’s going through his mind. I’ll be honest, it makes me chuckle. Moses will make every excuse in the book as to why he can not do what God has called him to do, but in the end he will honor God’s request. That’s the example I always want to follow. He will cling tightly to his shepherd’s staff as he leaves for Egypt to face the greatest challenge of his life, for you see the staff was his assurance of God’s presence. God’s Word is our assurance. I would encourage you, as you face the greatest challenges of your life to cling tightly to God’s Holy Word. It is there to guide you and encourage you and show you amazing truths not only about God but about how great you are in and through Him. Amen?

Have a great day and to God be the glory.

God bless you all …..