Shiphrah and Puah!
Exodus 1:17”But the midwives feared God, and did not do as the king of Egypt commanded them, but saved the male children alive.”
Hey guys, I have set out to write this message which I just preached in the church this morning! I wish the same anointing pours down on this message too! You know what, it’s easy to watch a preacher delivering the message passionately and you are able to walk into that anointing and revelation as well, but here I want you to feel the same anointing through my writing today! You must hear this today!
We are going to explore about two women whom most of you would not have heard: Shiphrah and Puah! They were the midwives in Israel but they are going to be the focal point of our message today; before I begin, I want to give a glimpse of the history around that period, for Bible-lovers this message would not only be delightful enlightenment but also very useful reading but for fast-food-readers they might skip portions of the best part of this message. Well, Joseph had entered the vast nation Egypt as a slave and eventually after 13 years of imprisonment, he walks out to be the Governor of Egypt. Mind-boggling! Joseph the outstanding great-grandson of Abraham saved Egypt from terrible famine because he listened to God's voice speaking through Pharaoh's dream and also because he was a rare blend of business acumen, wisdom, sharp intellect and excellent administrative qualities – everything received from God. Joseph was lifted to high and honored office in Egypt! If today you are wondering, ‘hey, I am in a hopeless situation’, I want you to change your opinion after reading this message, nothing is impossible with this BIG God!’ Say, Amen.
RAPID GROWTH AND MULTIPLICATION:
Joseph brought his family into Egypt and they were totally 70 people during that time, but there was a rapid increase in the growth of the people of God and there reached a stage when the Bible says: “the children of Israel were fruitful and increased abundantly, multiplied and grew exceedingly mighty; and the land was filled with them.” (Exodus 1:7) Imagine Egypt being filled with the children of God! When a new king came who did not know Joseph or about the wonderful things done through Jehovah, he got irritated. Now, let us look at this passage from a practical point of view, I imagined this way, when the new king saw a vast majority of people worship differently, talk differently, react differently, look differently and finally live differently from his own clan of Eqyptians, he said, ‘we need to eliminate these guys.’ Are you there? When you think and behave differently from this world, then mark it, you would be persecuted and the devil would want to eliminate you – wipe you off. Don’t be surprised if you are persecuted for being a good person, it would happen if you are a committed follower of Christ. The Bible says: “Indeed all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted” (2 Timothy 3:12). The king ordered the midwives ’ all the boys should be killed during the delivery.’ Now, here comes our Shiphrah and Puah! King Pharaoh was not kidding when he gave out those orders, he meant business and if anyone dared to disobey, he would not hesitate to kill them. Friends, in the face of such deadly opposition and sword hanging over their heads, these two women decided to obey God rather than the king. I’m sure a thousand voices would have tried to drown their resolution to stand for God by saying, ‘hey don’t be stupid, don’t risk your life, God would understand.’ They both brushed aside these sinister whisperings and dared to obey the Lord.
Dare to obey God!
Friends, let me take a digression here and speak to you, its not over with calling ourselves as ‘Christians’ we got to live it out. It’s an uphill battle that we have to face everyday to wade off temptations that are not easy: the temptations are juicy, spicy and lovely! Now what?
• As a sales executive working for a reputed organization, when a very important customer of your company requests for an ‘expensive gift’ which has been a norm of the company for long, how would you react? You can either buy the gift and give it to him or stand against it and say that you would not partake in this dirty business – you may run the risk of losing your job, though. What would you do? This is no fairy tale, I am talking of things that you are going to face in your life one hundred percent. Answer me friend, are you ready to risk your job and trust God with your life? There is a whole gamut of Christians who would rather handover the gift and say, ‘God would understand me.’ God would rubbish your coward behavior.
• How would you react if your boss wants you to lie?
• How would you react to giving up a relationship because you have come to understand through the Word of God that it is not right? Many do not have the strength to put God before their boy friend and so they walk away from God.
• You can ‘adorn’ your resume with a ‘pack of lies’ by giving fake work experience in a foreign country where you have never traveled, extra technical qualifications that you never done and so on or submit the truth as it is. What would you do?
• Friends, when tickets are booked for the first show of the hot movie, with your entire gang of friends getting ready for the great whacky show, how would you muster strength to say ‘no?’ Ah? I know some of you are grinning! Yeah, it’s tough Bala is the answer! You know what, back when I worked in the bank, there were times, the bank entertained the entire staff for a movie show and the whole bank went for the show, but I stayed back in my seat, sitting alone fidgeting with my computer. The universal thought about me then was: ‘she is weird!’ I’m sure many of you think of me that way even now – weird!
Because I started off being committed in small things, today I am able to stand tall and strong and live a committed life, among a huge crowd of people who compromise with God; I am talking of the Christian ministry circle, where ethics, honesty, duty are rare commodities. Friends, dare to be different! Ron Bailey said: “It is impossible to witness with conviction when the conscience is defiled.” Those who dare to swim against the current create ripples and revolution but most people tend to go with the flow. Sad scenario! Let us not have a herd mentality. People justify their sins and say that they live by His grace, don’t take His grace for granted! His words in the Bible in the last chapter of the book of Revelation should open our eyes to purify ourselves from all sins:
• Revelation 22: 11”He who is unjust, let him be unjust still; he who is filthy, let him be filthy still; he who is righteous, let him be righteous still; he who is holy, let him be holy still."
• "And behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to give to every one according to his work.
DO NOT FEAR, JUST OBEY!
Friends, when you face a serious trial in your life for your faith in Christ, fear not! God would lead you step by step in the path of righteousness and bless you. The Bible says: “Do not fear the reproach of man, nor be dismayed at their revilings” (Isaiah 51:7b). Let Jesus Christ be our example in times of crisis, Peter wrote,
“. . . and while being reviled, He did not revile in return; while suffering, He uttered no threats, but kept entrusting Himself to the One who judges righteously;” (1 Peter 2:23)
Shiphrah and Puah did not fear the wicked king but feared God and did what was right because they knew they would be given divine protection. This does not mean that you would not go through struggle and pain for your stand for God; you may have to go through loss and pain, but nevertheless, be firm and committed till the end, because He would take care of you. The best place to hide in times of trouble is under the shadow of His wings!
GOODIES FOR OBEDIENCE:
Let me summarize with stating the happy ending of the show; “the midwives feared God, that He provided households for them.” Observe what the Bible says, God blessed Shiphrah and Puah not because they daringly, smartly answered the king but because they obeyed the Lord. They were given households! Awesome! They didn’t have to take a housing loan to purchase a flat, they were gifted with one by God. Do you believe this would happen in your life? Why not? Obey His commandments completely and watch His miracles unfold in your life. I repeat not 99% but 100%!
When we relocated to Hyderabad with just 100 rupees in our pocket and we suffered even to purchase one kilo of rice and there was a day we did not have money to pay the electricity charges; however, in the midst of such severe famine, we stuck to His commandments and walked in the path shown by Him as a family. We never borrowed, we never begged for money, as a family we fasted and prayed. Now let me just state a few miracles of God:
• The first door that opened for us in Hyderabad was in a school, where the Principal herself invited us to conduct fasting prayer in the auditorium of her school. It was a lovely auditorium with mike and all the facilities required for a meeting. Now wait a minute, after a month when it was time for us to pay her a rent, she instead gave us an ‘offering’ and requested us to conduct the meeting free of any rent. Glory to Jesus! This is called ‘His grace?’
• It did not stop there, the first house that we stayed in Hyderabad was a huge, palatial, beautiful house. Each time, I entered the gates of that big colony, tears would roll down my cheeks thanking God for His mercy over this poor woman. He rewards obedience!
• When we opened the Free School for the poor and wondered how are we going to feed the children, God sent His beloved children to gift rice bags to us. This is called ‘His grace!’ In other words gift for obeying Him!
This message is an awesome teaching for this generation of youngsters who would want to get famous, rich and wealth by hook or by crook. Are you there? Bribe starts right from the gate of the passport office, where the security is bribed in order to jump the queue and get to the officer and then goes on the ‘endless’ bribing, all for want of a foreign assignment to make money. It does not stop there, then the minting of money starts even after you get a job….in the form of false expenses being claimed and it goes on…………..IT NEVER ENDS…..until it pulls you to hell.
Don’t you ever tell, ‘I didn’t know this was wrong’ – God has sent His servants like me………to hammer down the truth. My message reaches the far ends of the globe directly to the inbox of people working in various Corporate Sectors. Be warned!
When you receive the Word of God, it tantamount to receiving Christ Himself, when you reject His word then you reject Him. How are you going to react with today’s message?
