Exodus 2:1-10 - 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.”
Like Abraham, Moses is revered by
many of the world’s faith traditions.
Unlike the story of Abraham, which begins with Abraham already being an
old man, Moses’s story begins with his birth.
God’s activity in his life begins before he is aware of it – long
before. Moses is grown before he really
acknowledges God’s activity in his life in any meaningful way. But that’s a story for tomorrow.
Today, we remember his birth. The story of Exodus is the story of God
delivering His people from slavery in Egypt.
And that story begins with the birth of Moses. Pharaoh had ordered all baby males to be executed
in order to control the Hebrew population, but Moses is saved by his clever
mother who actually gets paid to take care of her son for Pharaoh’s
daughter. The irony of this is so thick
that it seems divinely orchestrated, which is the storyteller’s point. Moses, who Pharaoh wanted dead, ends up
growing up in his own house. Pharaoh
actually has a hand in preparing Moses to be the leader that will be the
incarnation of Pharaoh’s own fears about the Hebrew people. No wonder so many movies have been made about
this story!
Although few of us have lives as
dramatically providential as the birth and early life of Moses, the writer of
Exodus would love us to see that God works in similar ways in all of our lives
as well. Clever parents, strangers who
show us kindness, sworn enemies, and others all knowingly or unknowingly play a
role is God’s providential plan for our lives.
God is not above using anyone or anything to serve specific purposes in our
lives.
Much, much later in the history of
the world, John Wesley would call this attribute of God prevenient grace –
grace that works in our life before we know from where it came. This grace has been at work in your life just
as was in the life of Moses. Take some
time today to look back on your history to see God’s fingerprints. It might just change your life.
Prayer: God of
prevenient grace, help us to see how you’ve been up to something in us long
before we were aware of it. Amen
Prayer Focus: Pray
for God’s protection of children today all over the world – in poverty, in
cages, in broken homes, in “the system,” or wherever children are in danger.
Song: Through
Heaven’s Eyes – Brian Stokes Mitchell (From “The Prince of Egypt” soundtrack)
