Trusting God In Tough Times

Sermon Manuscript

Topic: Trusting God in Tough Times

Text: Exodus 2 (NIV)

Good Morning Brothers and Sister,

What a joy it is to worship the Lord together this morning!

Illustration – the story of Holocaust

By the mid 1930’s Hitler’s Germany began a campaign to persecute, imprison, and kill the Jews. Hitler blamed the Jews for many of Germany’s problems. He used Darwin’s evolutionary theory to justify what he claimed was the destruction of an inferior race. As a result, many Jews experienced the looting of their homes. They were driven away and confined to ghettos. And many were hauled off to concentration camps. At times thousands of Jews were lined up and shot, and buried in mass graves. Others were gassed. Up to 1.5 million Jewish children were killed in the Holocaust.

But, some Christians, like Corrie Ten Boom and her family decided to save the lives of Jewish people. So, they hid many Jews in their home in Holland from Hitler’s troops. Eventually, her family was caught and sent to a concentration camp. They went through very tough times, but they survived. Later, God used her as a public speaker to reach millions of people for Christ.

Brothers and sisters, we live in an evil world. So, we constantly experience tough times as we go through life. But, a lot of times, we don’t really know what to do when we are faced with tough situations. Well, our passage this morning tells us that, we should trust in God when we go through tough times. So, turn with me to Exodus 2:1-25 which gives us 3 reasons why we should trust God in tough times. First… because, God Rescues His People!

1. God Rescues His People (Vs. 1-10)

In the first 10 verses, we read about the birth and miraculous rescue of Moses. He was born of Amram and Jochebed who were both Levites. When Jochebed gave birth to Moses, ‘she saw that he was a fine child.’ So, right from the first moment of his birth, it became apparent that he was an extraordinary child. So she hid him for three months. Btw, why did Jochebed hide Moses, her own son?

Because of Pharaoh’s order: “Every Hebrew boy that is born, you must throw into the Nile, but let every girl live” (Exodus. 1:22). He thought that Hebrews would grow in number and eventually overpower him! So he came up with this evil plan to limit the growth of the Hebrew population in Egypt.

Now, Jochebed had a tough time hiding Moses for three months. Can you imagine trying to hide a newborn baby and keep him quiet? After 3 months, she realized that she wouldn’t be able to hide him any longer. So, “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. And Miriam, probably twelve years of age at the time, stood on the riverbank to “see what would happen to her baby brother.”

Can you imagine what it would be like to give away your 3-month-old baby? As a mother, it would have been emotionally very tough for Jochebed. It was heartbreaking for her to let go of her 3 months old son float in Nile River. Now, lets try to consider the risks: Would the basket float? Would it survive the currents of the Nile River? Would the child escape the danger of the crocodiles? Would he be safe in the hands of the Egyptians? Jochebed released her son by faith.

“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. 6 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. Now, the princess recognized what was going on there. She remembered her father’s order to throw every Hebrew boy into the Nile. What her father, the Pharaoh, had commanded was not only unthinkable; it was undoable. So, she was pondering what she would do with the child.

Since Miriam was watching all of this from a distance, she saw this as an opportunity. So she asked Pharaoh’s daughter, “Shall I go and get one of the Hebrew women to nurse the baby for you?” In response to Miriam’s request, she was willing to get a Hebrew woman to nurse the baby. So, Moses was raised by his own mother. And after few years, she took him to Pharaoh’s daughter and he became her son.

Brothers and sisters, Pharaoh’s daughter took a great risk in adopting Moses. Somehow she convinced her father to raise the child. Moses could have become either another Hebrew slave or could have been killed as he floated down the Nile. But, God had other plans for him. So, in the midst of all these tough situations, God rescued Moses out of Nile. God orchestrated this miraculous journey of Moses from the basket to the palace. Indeed God rescues His people!