God Works In Unexpected Ways (Moses)

Discovering God through Moses 1

Exodus 2:1-21

Let’s start by getting the timing of this story and the chronology of it.

Abraham – Isaac –

Isaac – Jacob

Jacob – Joseph

Joseph gets to Egypt – His family lives there and grow!!!

Anyone think the Old Testament is out of date?

We live in a society where media and politics is talking of controlling immigration, and ethnic groups living in our land, and the threat of terror and war from that.

It consumes some people so much that they want whole groups out of the country.

Trump is trying and trying to get laws passed to ban certain ethic groups from coming to the USA.

Last Sunday night – a man drove a van into people around a mosque, shouting “I’m going to kill all Muslims”.

Surely the bible isn’t relevant to us in situations such as this?

Exodus 1:

6 Now Joseph and all his brothers and all that generation died, 7 but the Israelites were exceedingly fruitful; they multiplied greatly, increased in numbers and became so numerous that the land was filled with them.

8 Then a new king, to whom Joseph meant nothing, came to power in Egypt. 9 ‘Look,’ he said to his people, ‘the Israelites have become far too numerous for us. 10 Come, we must deal shrewdly with them or they will become even more numerous and, if war breaks out, will join our enemies, fight against us and leave the country.’

So he forced the Hebrews into slavery, but worse:

15 The king of Egypt said to the Hebrew midwives, whose names were Shiphrah [shiff-rah] and Puah [pew-ah], 16 ‘When you are helping the Hebrew women during childbirth on the delivery stool, if you see that the baby is a boy, kill him; but if it is a girl, let her live.’

But the midwives wouldn’t do it.

22 Then Pharaoh gave this order to all his people: ‘Every Hebrew boy that is born you must throw into the Nile, but let every girl live.’

Pharaoh so hated and was scared for this ethnic group in his land, that he ordered his citizens to kill Hebrew baby boys.

This series on Moses is entitled: Discovering God through Moses.

Today: God works in unexpected ways

So now God’s people are in Egypt and started in the kings favour, but not so the new ruler.

He wants to control them.

But this is God’s people, and He is going to make sure they flourish.

He promised Abraham that his descendants would be more numerous than the stars he could see in the sky.

But he also said this to Abram: Genesis 15:13-14

"You can be sure that your descendants will be strangers in a foreign land, and they will be oppressed as slaves for four hundred years. [14] But I will punish the nation that enslaves them, and in the end they will come away with great wealth.

God’s people had it tough.

It seemed like God was no longer listening to them, but he was!

It’s like a scene from the life of Jesus. He and his disciples were on a boat on the Sea of Galilee when an unexpected storm arose. Jesus lay sleeping at the rear of the boat, but the disciples could only awaken him and exclaim, “Teacher, don’t you even care that we are going to drown?” (Mark. 4:38).

But, of course God was listening and ready to act in HIS timing

God works in unexpected ways

Now, because we know the story, it’s not really possible to imagine what we would do if we were God, but if we sat round as a team and worked out how to get God’s people to become a great nation, we would not, I’m sure, dream up the idea that we find in the first few chapters of Exodus.

So Pharaoh, decides to do some ethnic cleansing.

To cull the Hebrew baby boys.

God works in unexpected ways. He works with Jochebed. Who? Until this moment, how many of you had heard or remembered that name? Jochebed – the Hebrew mother who had given birth to a baby Boy!

And she knew what was going to happen, under Pharaoh’s orders.

She hid her baby for 3 months – but you can’t hide a baby forever; so, rather than keep him and probably witness his death, she loves him enough to let go.

She makes a papyrus basket, puts the baby inside, and floats him in the River Nile, among the reeds.

God works in unexpected ways, because, what happens next is a miracle – a marvel, a God incidence!

Pharaoh’s daughter – yes, the Pharaoh who is culling Hebrew baby boys – goes down to the River Nile to bath with her attendants. She sees the basket and sends a slave to fetch it.