Trinity Bible Church

Scripture Reading: Exodus 1:8‒2:10

Every act of kindness is a piece of love we leave behind. ―Paul Williams 

 

 

oday’s Bible story is about baby Moses, and how two women and two cohorts of women saved a baby boy — a child who would grow to become the greatest and foremost leader of the Hebrew people — from certain death, and in so doing saved a nation.

 The first woman was Jochebed, the mother of baby Moses, and she defied the pharaoh by keeping the baby hidden for at least three months. Then, “when she could hide him no longer she got a papyrus basket for him, and plastered it with bitumen and pitch; she put the child in it and placed it among the reeds on the bank of the river” (2:3).

 The second woman was Miriam, Jochebed’s daughter and Moses’ older sister. Miriam’s job was to linger about the Nile River, keep an eye out for her baby brother and report back to her mother.

 Third, notice the midwives. They “feared God; they did not do as the king of Egypt commanded them” (v. 17). They deliberately disobeyed an order.

 Finally, the princess and her attendants discover the baby, and finding him adorable, disobey her father’s command.

 What was the key to saving baby Moses? Defiance! All of these women suffered from, or were strengthened by, what psychologists today might call an oppositional disorder. These were definitely strong women. All of them defied the pharaoh. And it is a good thing they did. But what motivated them?

 Love. Their actions were the defiance of love. They loved God more than human authority, and they loved this baby more than they feared rulers and kings.

 The defiance of love is so powerful! Every little act of love and kindness we do is a subversive action against bitterness and unkindness. It’s a rebellion that says, “We do not agree with the aggressive back-stabbing, back-talking, hostile and oppressive tactics in play in our culture today. We stand against these. We will openly sow love and kindness regardless of any perceived outcome. We are united in pursuit of a common objective.”

 Each act of kindness rebuffs the haters among us.

 Each unexpected demonstration of love helps to restore faith in humanity and perhaps in God — one never knows. —Timothy Merrill

 

Prayer: Loving God, strengthen me today to stand up in the face of unkindness and be kind; to comfort someone who has been hurt; to stay beside a friend who is being mistreated. Amen.

---