Power Point - January 16, 2006

January 16, 2006

 

Then the king of Egypt spoke to the Hebrew midwives, of whom the name of one was Shiphrah and the name of the other Puah; and he said, “When you do the duties of a midwife for the Hebrew women, and see them on the birthstools, if it is a son, then you shall kill him; but if it is a daughter, then she shall live.” But the midwives feared God, and did not do as the king of Egypt commanded them, but saved the male children alive. --Exodus 1:15-17

 

I love the story of Moses. I’ve been hearing it and repeating it since I was a child. Moses was a man who knew and loved God — and eventually became the great deliverer of Israel. He was trained in all the laws and life of the Egyptians — becoming a scholar, statesman, and soldier. Yet ultimately, he made a mistake that would cost him 40 years of his life on the back side of a desert. But first, God called him out and commissioned him to do great things.

 

Before Moses was born, the children of Israel had multiplied in the land of Egypt. The Pharaoh of that time was cruel and feared the multiplication of the Hebrews — that they may become strong, separate from the nation, or even join with an enemy. This power-hungry Pharaoh determined to destroy the Hebrews one at a time beginning with newborns.

 

By government edict it was birth control. Yet these Hebrew midwives who delivered the babies feared God. Would to God that we had people who knew how to fear Him in our own generation and stand in the gap. But these midwives practiced what we call civil disobedience because they wanted to obey God before man. They were great heroines.

 

The tyrannical Pharaoh concocted a plan for infanticide — decreeing that every baby boy of the Hebrews be thrown into the Nile to die. Can you imagine the weeping and wailing of mothers and fathers who had to watch their babies disappear into the depths of the Nile River? What a sad, dark day in the lives of the children of Israel it was.

 

They were slaves — cruelly controlled by a hard taskmaster. But then a little baby was born. God has often changed history with the birth of a child — a child of destiny. Moses was a great man of God who was open to being used for His glory. Several lessons can be learned here: choose life, fear God, and determine to be open to Him so that He can also do great and mighty things through you.

 

GOD HAS MANY TIMES CHANGED THE COURSE OF HISTORY THROUGH THE BIRTH AND LIFE OF A SMALL CHILD.