Deliverance From Egypt
A Baby in a Basket – Exodus 1:1-2:10
1.Aim: To lead the people to understand that just as God delivered baby Moses so His almighty power can deliver us from any uncertainty.
Illustration:"A young soldier who was showing signs of panic on the eve of his first battle was chaffed by a veteran. ’Why, sonny,’ he said, ’you’re shaking with fear. Don’t be such a coward.’ ’I’m not a coward,’ hotly retorted the youth. ’If you felt half as scared as I do, you’d run away!’ He was right. That young man was not a coward because he felt fear, but he would have been a coward if he had allowed it to master him and drive him from his post of duty."
Martin Luther once said - "I know not the way He leads me, but well do I know my Guide. What have I to fear?"
O servant of the Most High God, can you say the same?
Do you know your Guide today?
Can you confidently proclaim - "What Have I To Fear?"
2. Explanation of the Aim: God can deliver people from all kinds of hardships, adversity or insecurity when we trust Him with our whole heart. The Lord orchestrated people, events and situations to see that Moses was delivered into the safe care of Pharaoh’s daughter to accomplish His greater purposes for the people of God. Allow the Lord to bring you through all kinds of trouble so He can work His will in and through your life.
3. The Bible Story: When Moses was born the king of Egypt ordered that all male Jewish babies be immediately put to death. The king wanted to destroy the people of God but was thwarted in many ways. The God fearing Jewish midwives ignored the king’s order and let the male people live. They said, “Hebrew women are not like Egyptian women; they are vigorous and give birth before the midwives arrive.” (Ex. 1:19)
When Moses’ Mother gave birth to her son, she hid him for three months. But when she could not hide him anymore from the evil King’s eye she got a papyrus basket and placed the child in it and put it among the reeds of the Nile. Soon the Pharaoh’s daughter saw the basket and sent her slave girl to retrieve it for her. Quickly, Moses’ mother was summoned to nurse the child and Pharaoh’s daughter paid her for the services of caring for the infant. Pharaoh’s daughter called Moses her son. God thwarts any evil attempts to destroy his people who are doing His will. The Lord promises to deliver those who trust in Him and His infallible word.
4. Prepare to Teach: The INTRODUCTION is used to help the people consider what it means to trust in God’s deliverance (To be rescued from danger, harm or insecurity). Find out if any of the people have ever seen a person rescued from danger or difficulty? Ask the people if they know how God delivered Moses from great danger and distress?
Briefly explain how the Lord delivers us from sin, hell and judgement through saving faith in the Jesus Christ our Lord.
Illustration: If you could kick the person responsible for most of your troubles in the backside, you wouldn’t be able to sit down for two weeks.
Bits and Pieces, December 1990.
The BIBLE STORY explains how the Lord delivered baby Moses from the waters of the Nile. God can use anyone to perform His mighty works since He is the Sovereign King. Learn to pray and believe that the Lord will deliver you in a way that will enable you to accomplish everything He asks you to do.
The MEANING FOR OUR LIVES gives the people several opportunities to make applications from the lesson. Find out if the people can explain how God deliver baby Moses from death? Ask the people if they know why the Lord use Pharaoh’s daughter to deliver Moses from certain death? Why does God allow difficulties to come into the lives of His people? Ask the people how God is able to rescue us from any difficulty, adversity or predicament?
Introduction
Ask the people what it means to trust in God’s deliverance (To be rescued from danger, harm or insecurity).
Why is it important for us to realize that throughout the Old Testament the word salvation can be used interchangeably with deliverance? Ask the people if they know how God delivered Moses from terrible dangers and distress? Briefly explain how the Lord delivers us from sin, hell and judgement. Briefly describe how the God delivers us from hell through saving faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.
The Bible Story
Moses was born at a time when Egypt had become a house of bondage for the Jews. Be careful that the place where some people think they are happiest may soon become a place of affliction. Realize that our only truly safe place will be found in heaven. David wrote, “In your presence is fullness of joy and in your right hand are pleasures for evermore.” (Psa. 16:11)
Pharaoh became angry, envious and resentful at the fact that the people of God prospered in the land of Egypt. When we prosper be sure that others will hate us out of a feeling of envy. Oppression soon swept over the Jews because of the bitter jealousy of Pharaoh. The Egyptians feared that the people of Israel should join their enemies, and force them up out of their own land. Wickedness is always cowardly and unjust.
Evil makes a person fear, where no fear is, and run when no one is pursuing. The wicked king set out to repress the people of Israel. God’s people had task-masters set over them, not only to burden them, but to afflict them with their burdens. They not only made them serve for Pharaoh’s profit, but their lives became bitter. Yet, the Israelites wonderfully increased.
Christianity often spreads most when it was persecuted. The blood of the martyrs has been called the seed of the church. Let us serve notice that whoever plots against the Lord and His people will bring great pain and calamity upon themselves
The Egyptians tried to destroy Israel by the murder of their male people. Hatred always stirs up terrible strife. The king planned to use the female people as wives for his own men, so he spared their lives. Just in the nick of time God sent a deliverer in the person of Moses. The enemies of God are always trying to destroy the people of God because they feel threatened by a power greater than their own. When people may try to ruin the church we can be assured that God prepares a way for its deliverance.
The writer of Hebrews wrote, “By faith Moses’ parents hid him from the clutches of Pharaoh’s angry sword.” We can be assured that no weapon waged against God’s will can succeed. Rely on God’s promises for your welfare as He is your good Shepherd who lays down His life for the sheep. Faith in God delivers us because the Lord quickly comes to our rescue who cry out to be saved. Let us obey God in what we know to do is right and He will engineer events to work all things together for good.
Great faith in God delivers us from the fear of human beings. After three months Moses’ mother could not hide him any longer so she put him in a small basket and place in along the Nile River. If a Mother would go to such lengths to show her love for her son how much more can we be assured of God’s loving care for His people. Baby Moses did not know it at the time, but God’s protection shielded him from every evil power.
No power is able to hurt you when God’s protective arms are wrapped around you. When you feel most neglected, abandoned or insecure remember God is watching over you.
God quickly sends Pharaoh’s daughter to notice the baby Moses drifting along the shores of the Nile. The Lord made sure that he would not be left too long in case some element might have done Moses any harm. Providence brings Pharaoh’s daughter to the place where this poor forlorn infant lay, and inclines her heart to pity it, which she dares do, when none else durst.
God’s care of us in our infancy ought to be often mentioned by us to his praise. Pharaoh cruelly sought to destroy Israel, but his own daughter had pity on a Hebrew child, and not only so, but, without knowing it, preserved Israel’s deliverer, and provided Moses with a good nurse, even his own mother. God saw to it that Moses was treated as the son of Pharaoh’s daughter.
People who may be obscure and poor are raised to greatness through God’s providence. The Lord’s omnipotence is able to deliver anyone at anytime from any place of adversity.
Memory Verse: For He will deliver the needy who cry out, the afflicted who have no one to help. (Psa. 72:12)
The Meaning for Our Lives
Give the people several opportunities to make application from this lesson on deliverance. Find out if the people can explain how God delivered baby Moses from danger? Ask the people how the Lord can deliver them from hardship, danger or difficulties? Ask the people if they know why God used Pharaoh’s daughter to deliver Moses from the dangers of the Nile River? Why does God allow difficulties to come into the lives of His people? How is God able to deliver us from any difficulty, hardship or predicament?
Response:
Song: He is able to deliver you.
Prayer: Ask the Lord to deliver you from whatever trouble, difficulty or fearful insecurity you are facing.
At Home: Ask your friends and family what they do when they need God to deliver them from a financial, physical or cultural problem?
