October 16, 2016 - Baby Moses

TONY AND MICHELLE PAWLAK

MEMORY VERSE

Listen, my son, to your father’s

instruction and do not forsake your mother’s teaching.

PROVERBS 1:8

Have you ever heard of the word "PROVIDENCE?" It means that God, being a loving father, provides for all your needs according to His perfect will and purpose. Just like your parents provide you with food, clothing, a home, love, etc., God makes sure that His children have what they need.  Today we learn of a story that shows how God provided for a small baby so that he could grow up and do extraordinary things for God's people.

Last week we learned how God used Joseph's servant heart to save his family as well as all of Egypt.  You would think that the Egyptian people would remember and be thankful for Joseph and his people forever...right?   Well, they were for a while.  For the next four hundred years or so, Joseph's people, the children of Israel, grew and had families.  Their children had children and their children's children had children and their children's children's....oh, you get the point.  

Eventually, the children of Israel, or Hebrews as they were

called almost outnumbered the Egyptians.  By this time a new Pharaoh that did not remember what Joseph did had come to power.  Seeing so many Hebrews made him afraid that they might try to take over.  Pharaoh thought about it and decided to do

something drastic; he made all the Hebrews into slaves! He worked them so hard that they would never think about trying to take over.  

Much to Pharaoh's surprise, the Hebrews kept having more and more children and Pharaoh knew that soon

there would be too many to control.  So Pharaoh did something very very evil.  He ordered that all Hebrew baby boys were to be thrown into the Nile river and drowned!  One Hebrew couple named Amram and  his wife Jochebed had a

beautiful little baby boy and they loved him so much that they decided that they couldn't let him die so they decided to disobey Pharaoh and hide the baby.

Three months later they discovered that they could no longer hide their little boy and that something had to be done.  So Jochebed

decided to make a basket and cover it with pitch to make it waterproof (just like Noah's Ark).  She put her baby boy into the basket and placed it in the Nile river.  She didn't know what would happen to him but she knew this was his only chance of survival.  Jochebed sent her daughter, Miriam, to watch the basket to see where it would end up.

The helpless little baby floated down the river with only God and Miriam watching.  It just so happened at that very moment the Pharaoh's daughter was bathing in the Nile with her maidservants.  She caught sight of the little basket and ordered one of her servants to see what was in it.  "It's one of the Hebrew babies." the servant told her.  Seeing this beautiful baby boy the Pharaoh's daughter immediately fell in love with him and decided to raise him as her own son.  

However, she knew she would need special help with a baby

so small.  Just then, Miriam jumps out of hiding and said, "I know a woman who would be perfect to take take of him for you!"  "Go get her for me." The Pharaoh's daughter told Miriam.  Right away, Miriam ran and got her mother and brought her to the Pharaoh's daughter.  The Pharaoh's daughter hired her to take care of the baby not knowing that it was was baby's own mother!

The Pharaoh's daughter decided that, since she drew the baby out of the water, she would give him a name that means to draw out.  Or, as we all know him today....MOSES.

Isn't it wonderful how God provided Moses with a loving mother and father, a smart sister, and the good fortune to be adopted as the Pharaoh's own grandson.  God provided all this for Moses as a baby so that he could Prepare him for a special job later on.  But that's a story for next time...