Hebrews 11. Part 31. Pandemic.
God is with you! He will carry you through these current difficulties. He has carried and helped millions of believers who went before you. One of the rewards for all who seek him is the blessing of his presence and his help.
“Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. By it the people of old received their commendation. By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible. . .Without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him” (Hebrews 11:1-3, 6 ESV).
These truths are why the letter to the Hebrews was written. God pays back, recompenses, and rewards those who diligently and earnestly search after him, pursuing him as he himself pursues us with even greater passion, conviction, and constancy than we can ever imagine.
Those who reside in Christ seek him. We believe that he exists. We believe that he rewards those who seek him.
God is with you! He will carry you through these current difficulties. He has carried and helped millions of believers who went before you. One of the rewards for all who seek him is the blessing of his presence. Click To Tweet Those who reside in Christ seek him. We believe that he exists. We believe that he rewards those who seek him. Click To TweetThe People of Old
Those who went before us lived lives of faith long before this first-century letter was written. They believed in the coming Redeemer, trusting that God would fulfill his promise. These were carried by God through terrible times.
In the midst of the horrific persecution faced by the recipients of this letter, the author reminds them that God is with them, just as he was with the believers of old. God is also with us, just as he was with them.
God supports, defends, and rewards all who believe. He is beyond all we can imagine. He is present everywhere. He never leaves nor forsakes us, in both good times and in bad. Even in the worst, most horrific, painful, and devastating times of our lives, he is with us. The same was true of them.
God supports, defends, and rewards all who believe. He is beyond all we can imagine. He is present everywhere. He never leaves nor forsakes us, in both good times and in bad. Click To TweetThe Birth of a Beautiful Baby
Pharaoh had commanded that all Hebrew baby boys be killed. The Hebrew midwives disobeyed, refusing to kill the boys at birth. Moses’ parents, Jochebed and Amram (son of Kohath, son of Levi), hid their infant son to keep him alive. If Moses had been heard by any Egyptians, who had been commanded by Pharaoh to toss the Hebrew baby boys into the Nile River, they could have killed him, joining the mass infanticide.
[For the entire horrific history in Exodus 1:1-2:10: Click here to read.]
Can we even imagine the horror of living through this situation? How did God get a pregnant and then newly delivered mother through this? How did God keep a protective yet powerless father from losing his mind?
“By faith Moses, when he was born, was hidden for three months by his parents, because they saw that the child was beautiful, and they were not afraid of the king’s edict” (Hebrews 11:23 ESV).
Notice how Moses was saved. God went all out. The baby was exceedingly beautiful! The Greek word used by the author here is asteios, which means “elegant in external form, symmetrical, artistically superb.”
God, the best Artist in the universe, wove Moses together in his mother’s womb in such a way that everyone who encountered him knew that this was “no ordinary child” (Acts 7:20 NIV). He was “a fine child” (Exodus 2:2 NIV & ESV), “beautiful in God’s sight” (Acts 7:20 ESV). Imagine the most beautiful baby possible. Multiply by ten. That was Moses, the baby rock star.
God did whatever was necessary to shore up the faith of Moses’ parents as they experienced this terrifying and perilous situation. Here was a shining gem of a baby. The child’s form made them aware that God had a purpose.
Their faith in God’s purpose expelled their fear of the king’s edict, and so they hid Moses away until he was three months old. When he became noisy, they placed him into a reed boat, sealed with bitumen and pitch, and shoved the craft out into the Nile River — the site of the infanticide, the last place anyone would look. With his sister Miriam keeping watch, they entrusted their baby to God.
“Now the daughter of Pharaoh came down to bathe at the river, while her young women walked beside the river. She saw the basket among the reeds and sent her servant woman, and she took it. When she opened it, she saw the child, and behold, the baby was crying. She took pity on him and said, ‘This is one of the Hebrews’ children.’
“Then his sister [Miriam] said to Pharaoh’s daughter, ‘Shall I go and call you a nurse from the Hebrew women to nurse the child for you?‘ [Clever girl — “call a nurse”] And Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, ‘Go.’ So the girl went and called the child’s mother [Jochebed]. And Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, ‘Take this child away and nurse him for me, and I will give you your wages.’ So the woman took the child and nursed him. When the child grew older, she brought him to Pharaoh’s daughter, and he became her son. She named him Moses, ‘Because,’ she said, ‘I drew him out of the water'” (Exodus 2:5-10 ESV).
By the grace of God, Pharaoh’s daughter was also moved by the beautiful perfection of baby Moses. Pharaoh’s daughter had the power to kill the baby — she knew he was a Hebrew, and yet, she wanted him. That beautiful rock star baby was a miracle. Then, another miracle, young Miriam was able to arrange for Moses’ own mother to nurse him and to be paid for it.
This was above and beyond what anyone could hope and dream! Praise God! The Lord kept Moses safe. He would lead God’s people out of slavery and write the first five books of the Bible.
The Beautiful Baby Moves to the Palace
And so Jochebed nursed Moses until he went to live in the palace, perhaps between ages three and five, culturally, the typical age for weaning. All of this, every single step, would require faith in a God who sees, for they were living under the reign of a pharaoh who killed.
Stephen informs us in Acts 7 that “Moses was educated in all the wisdom of the Egyptians and was powerful in speech and action” (Acts 7:22 NIV). Next week we’ll examine how Moses grew and changed as he learned to trust God in order to carry out the mission he had been given, a mission that would change the world and protect the lineage of the Messiah.
Even in their slavery, even in this time of death and loss, the people of God, those who believed his promises, who knew he would do what he had said…
“All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance, admitting that they were foreigners and strangers on earth. People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own. If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return. Instead, they were longing for a better country—a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them” (Hebrews 11:13-16 NIV).
Where are your eyes? Where are mine? Are our feet headed toward a better country — a heavenly one?
In our time of loss do we believe that God will keep his promises? Is the eternal and unchanging God our rock and our focus?
I believe God always keeps His promises to His people. I love all the detail you share. Thanks
It’s such a blessing to know that our Lord God never ever breaks his promises. The details of Moses’ life are rich with so much that is applicable even in our culture today. Thanks for commenting, Yvonne.
My blog this week focused on Moses’s flaws, not his beauty. Like moses, we are all beautifully broken and beloved of God & a part of God’s redemption story!
That’s awesome, Candice! Next week, my post is on Moses’ adulthood and the bad choices he makes as he’s trying to sort out how he is to deliver God’s people. I’ll enjoy reading what you’ve written. Yes, we’re all broken, every single one of us, including this beautiful baby who became a man.
Yes, yes. God keeps His promises. We can find comfort in knowing He loves us and He keeps His promises.
His faithfulness is such a gift! No matter what we do, we know that he is with us and that he never forsakes us. Thanks for stopping by, Melissa!
Such a timely reminder: God is with you! He will carry you through these current difficulties.
Thanks for stopping by, Rebecca! He is with us, carrying us through!
So many truths in this post.
And yes, I’ve personally experienced how He carried me through a time of great loss, equipping me to put one foot in front of the other to come out the other side. There’s no other explanation for how I was able to persevere!
Thank you for sharing your own testimony of how the Lord enabled you to persevere, Ava! Those time that he gets us through difficulties beyond our ability comprehend are faith-building realities that we carry with us, facts that we reflect on all of our lives.
Oh Melinda, I just re-read this passage in Hebrews this week and was moved once again. These faithful people of God did not lose faith or hope, despite very difficult conditions. And many never personally witnessed God’s redemption. Yet they believed He was at work, bringing all things into fulfillment, just as He promised. Period. Oh God, give me such eyes of faith! Thank you for this great encouragement today.
Melissa, your comments are always so encouraging. You engage with the content and make statements that promote conversation. The circumstances in Egypt when all the baby boys were being murdered would have been a horrific time of fear, AND YET, God works to bring his coming leader onto the scene. A similar massacre occurred in Bethlehem when Herod murdered all the baby boys in an attempt to kill Messiah. Joseph and Mary also lived courageously. These stories of faith challenge us to be steadfast, no matter the circumstances, even a pandemic, as we seek to obey the Lord and seek to walk in the Spirit, with love for one another.
Like so many biblical stories, the story of Moses displays God’s grace in every chapter. So thankful for those who have gone before us. And now we consider those who come after us. We know they will see how God also carried us through difficult circumstances to fulfill His purpose in our lives by the same grace and faithfulness.
The stories of the people of old were filled with the reality of their mistakes and their failures, and yet they are listed here as people of faith with God’s blessing and reward. Thankfully, since we also fail and make mistakes, we can know that because we are his, the Lord is pleased with us and his reward is with him awaiting us! We can hope and pray that our faithful lives will bless and encourage future generations. Thanks for commenting, Karen!
Wow, the detail in this had me hanging on every word! You are so right — Moses, this beautiful baby “rock star,” was created by God, who knows all and knows exactly how everything should happen! He knew how the parents would react, the midwife would react, Pharaoh’s daughter would react, everything. God knows all. That is such a comfort to me.
It really is, isn’t it, Jessica! In the middle of all of this, to consider that just as surely as God made Moses beautiful, knowing that his beauty was the key to saving his life and all the rest, then so surely is there similar reassurance in this time of pandemic. The Lord is similarly working in and through this pandemic, this racial disharmony, this drastic need to change, the state of the church being revealed by all of this, etc. We know he has a good intention. What it will be is yet to be revealed, but I know we are all being stretched. That is usually followed by great growth! I want to cooperate with what he’s doing. It will be glorious!
What I love about the story of Moses is the focus of his mother and sister. Their trust was not in their circumstances or the Egyptians who could kill their baby boy. Their eyes were fixed on God. And this enabled them to release their boy in the Nile River, trusting that God’s eye was on him and that he would care for him. What faith! I’m reminded to do the same. I can obey God easier when my mind is set on him and his power rather than the troubles and uncertainty I face each day. A very encouraging article, Melinda! Thank you so much!
Thank you, Marcie! Their faith is empowering, isn’t it! If they can have faith to trust God in that circumstances of great danger, then certainly we can trust God with our kids’ lives in this current situation. Their faith gives us hope, a model, an example of people who have gone before us and who have lived in a way that demonstrates their trust in God. Thank you for drawing attention to the faith of Jochebed and Miriam!
Love the emphasis on the beauty of the baby. Thank you for such an encouraging message, Melinda.
If Moses hadn’t been beautiful, isn’t it interesting to think of what might have happened! But, God knew exactly how that beautiful baby needed to look, and he knew the plan he had for him as a grown man! Thanks for stopping by, Nancy!
Melinda, this is such a beautiful post. You said this: “Their faith in God’s purpose expelled their fear of the king’s edict…”
This really spoke to my heart. Those times when it’s tempting to fear because circumstances are overwhelming are the times when we need to turn our thoughts and hearts to the Lord, trusting that He knows His purposes for us, and He will bring them about. It’s not up to us, it’s up to Him. Our role is to keep our faith in Him.