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A Love That Keeps
(Moses in the Bulrushes)
EXODUS 2:1-10
1 And there went a man of the house of Levi, and took to wife a daughter of Levi. 2 And the woman conceived, and bare a son: and when she saw him that he was a goodly child, she hid him three months. 3 And 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. 4 And his sister stood afar off, to wit what would be done to him.
5 And the daughter of Pharaoh came down to wash herself at the river; and her maidens walked along by the river’s side; and when she saw the ark among the flags, she sent her maid to fetch it. 6 And when she had opened it, she saw the child: and, behold, the babe wept. And she had compassion on him, and said, This is one of the Hebrews’ children. 7 Then said his sister to Pharaoh’s daughter, Shall I go and call to thee a nurse of the Hebrew women, that she may nurse the child for thee? 8 And Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, Go. And the maid went and called the child’s mother. 9 And Pharaoh’s daughter said unto her, Take this child away, and nurse it for me, and I will give thee thy wages. And the woman took the child, and nursed it. 10And the child grew, and she brought him unto Pharaoh’s daughter, and he became her son. And she called his name Moses: and she said, Because I drew him out of the water.
There was A mother who was putting her little four-year-old daughter to bed for the night. The child was afraid of the dark, and the mother, on this particular occasion, with her husband away, was fearful also.
When the light was out, the child caught a glimpse of the moon outside the window. “Mommy,” she asked, “is the moon God’s light?” “Yes,” the mother said.
Then the child asked, “Will God put out his light and go to sleep?” The mother replied, “No, dear, God never goes to sleep.” Then, out of the simplicity of a child’s faith, the little girl said something which gave reassurance even to her mother: “Well, as long as God is awake, there is no sense in both of us staying awake.” And off to sleep she went.
I wonder if the Hebrews had been feeling like God had fallen asleep on them?
Maybe they felt like the light of God had been switched off?
That God had forgotten them?
You see, life was hard for those Hebrews -- very hard!
They were beaten and abused by their Egyptian taskmasters,
forced to do back breaking work building Pharaoh’s cities and monuments.
They were stripped of their honor, humiliated and scorned, exploited and taken advantage of put down and spat upon.
They were nothing but beasts of burden as far as the Egyptians were concerned, animals to be used in the production of their labors, And if one of them died under the agony of his burdens, or because of the cruelties of his taskmasters -- it mattered not -- there were plenty more where that one came from.
But there was one area in which the Hebrews had abundance -- and that was in having children!
In spite of all their hardships, they continued to flourish and multiply -- And Pharaoh was feeling threatened by their numbers. And so, Pharaoh began the first recorded holocaust in Jewish history.
First, he increased their labor, made it more difficult for them, and when that didn’t do any good to slow the growth of the Hebrews, he ordered that every boy that was born was to be thrown into the Nile river and drowned.
That was the situation down there in Egypt and it was awful
It was terrible beyond comprehension!
it must have seemed that God had let them down,
that God had abandoned them,
forgotten them.
there are times in our lives when it seems like God has forgotten us
Times that seems like life is harder than it should be?
life probably isn’t as bad as it was for the Hebrews - but sometimes it can seem bad enough.
We all know what it is like to feel afraid and defeated.
That’s one of the reasons, I am convinced, that this passage of scripture is found in the Bible.
It’s not just a history lesson of God’s people.
It’s OUR story as well.
It’s a story that speaks to us -- because it is a story that embodies the struggles we all experience in life.
But not only is it a story of life’s struggles -- it is a story of life’s hope.
You see just when it seemed like the Hebrews could not bear their burdens anymore a child was born that was destined to be the one to deliver God’s people out of Egypt land
You see, in the story of Moses, we can see the hand of God working out his loving plan,
watching out for this tiny baby,
providing for his personal safety,
preparing him for the time of God’s service.
When we face our times of difficulty, and we think that God has forgotten us, then we need to turn to this story of Moses in the bulrushes and be reminded that God is still in control, and that there is a love that keeps us.
I.
For one thing, we are reminded that God provides for us in ways we may recognize at first
I mean think about it Was it just a coincidence, that Pharaoh’s own daughter just happened to come upon the child, and that her heart went out for the child?
Was it just a coincidence that Moses’ own mother would be chosen to nurse the child until he was old enough to be weaned at the age of three or four years of age?
Was it just a coincidence that by giving the child back to his own mother, that she was able to provide for her child with a mother’s love, and that she was able to provide a foundation of faith in the God of Israel?
And then, later on, was it just a coincidence that Moses would be raised in Pharaoh’s house, educated in the ways of Egypt, have access to the very throne of power in Egypt?
No... it was not coincidence.
It was the keeping love of God.
In her book The Hiding Place, Corrie ten Boom tells of tense times in Holland during the time of the German invasion. One night Corrie tossed restlessly in her bed as war planes roared overhead, shattering the blackness with fiery artillery. Hearing her sister downstairs in the kitchen, and unable to sleep, she went downstairs for a cup of tea. She and her sister talked until the night was quiet again and the sound of the fighter planes had died away. Explosions had ripped nearby, but now all was quiet.
Groping through the darkness to her room, Corrie reached out her hand to pat her pillow before lying down. Suddenly she felt something sharp cutting her hand. It was a jagged piece of metal ten inches long -- a piece of shrapnel from an exploded bomb.
Corrie said to her sister, “Betsy, if I had not heard you in the kitchen...” To which her sister replied, “Don’t say it, Corrie! There are no IFs in God’s world. The center of his will is our safety"
We can all look back on some experience of our own to see that God was at work providing for our needs.
Maybe we didn't recognize at the time but looking back now we can only say, “It was the hand of God, and We just didn't know it then!”
II.
Not only do we see that God provides for our needs in ways we may not recognize, but we also see that God prevails over evil in ways we cannot imagine.
it must have seemed like evil had won the day!
The Hebrews had been enslaved,
forced to do unbearable labor,
their children were being slaughtered.
It couldn’t get any worse than that.
Evil surely must have thought that it had the upper hand!
But still in the end it was God, not Pharaoh, who was victorious
You see, my God can't be kept down for long.
That’s what this story in Exodus tells us.
God is the God of power and might, and God will always be victorious over evil.
One way that God’s will prevails is through transformation of our lives and our situations.
You see God takes our situation into his shaping hands and brings good out of bad.
That’s exactly what God did at the Cross of Calvary
He took an instrument of torture and death, and he transformed it into an instrument of salvation and life.
Think back the story of Joseph?
Joseph is the reason the Hebrews were in Egypt.
Joseph had been sold by his brothers to some slave traders, who took him down to Egypt.
And while there in Egypt God transformed Joseph’s situation.
He rose to a position of power and prominence, and when a famine came across all that region, Joseph stored up grain against the years of famine.
When his brothers came looking for food, and found their long lost brother in power, they were afraid because of what they had done to him.
But instead of taking revenge upon his brothers Joseph welcomed them, and he said to them, “You meant it for my harm, but God intended it for good.”
That is the Keeping Love of God.
At times we may wonder, “How God can transform sorrow, sickness or some other crisis that we may have in our lives into good?”
Well all we have to do is just look back to the story of Moses to see what our God can do
And I'll tell you something else that I've come to learn and that is that we cannot fully know or appreciate the meaning of joy until we have felt the pain and sorrows of life
And those of us that have gone through some great difficulties in life are often the ones who is more able to help someone else that is going through a difficult time in there lives
You see God prevails over evil through the transformation of our lives and our situations
And Another way that God prevails over evil is through the faith of his people.
The Book of Hebrews tells us: By faith, Moses’ parents hid him for three months after he was born, because they saw he was no ordinary child, and they were not afraid of the Kings commandments
It was faith that gave them the courage to do what needed to be done.
You see, they believed in a God who was greater than Pharaoh.
They believed in a God that was more powerful than their problems.
They believed in a God who provided for their needs in ways they didn't always recognize, and who could prevail over evil in ways they couldn't imagine.
We should never underestimate the importance that our faith plays in the work of God. Moses’ parents did what they needed to do. Then they turned it all over to God and trusted In him
And that is when our faith really soars?
When we just turn it all over to God?
someone once said, “Faith is idle when circumstances are right. Only when they are adverse is one’s faith in God exercised.”
I read about a pastor online who was telling about one of his parishioners that was gravely ill in the hospital,
the pastor was visiting with him when the doctor came in, and point-blank told the patient: you’re dead! There’s no hope. You’d better get your things in order.” Just that bluntly. No hope. No comfort. No “how are you doing?”
Just straight forward your going to die
Then After answering a few questions, the doctor left. The pastor sat there with his parishioner in silence for a few minutes just trying to take in what the doctor had said. Then The pastor turned to The man and said, don’t you think this would be a good time to get right with Christ?” And there in that hospital room, The man turned his life over to Christ. And he turned it all over to God.
The next day The man was moved to Riverside Hospital in Columbus. A different doctor came in and told the man that we’re not going to give up yet. We’re going to try a different medicine, and a different therapy.”
And then with a gleam in his eye, The pastor said you know what?
He got better!
He was healed!
He turned it all over to God, and God healed him!”
You see When we have nothing left but God, then for the first time we realize that God is all that we need
God is more than enough.
That’s what those Hebrews discovered in our scripture tonight
And that is what you can discover too.
God is enough.
He prevails over evil in ways we cannot imagine.
He provides for us in ways that we may not recognize
He is God
And he is in control
Even when we can't see it
Let's pray!
