Exodus 2:1-10  The story of Moses and Pharaoh's Daughter

This morning I want to give honor to my wife Lisa.  Lisa was an outstanding mother to our daughter Ashley.  She is still mothering some of your children; just watch her at any given service and you will see those little ones gathered all around her.

What does it take to be the kind of mother God honors?

Scripture tells us that after Joseph brought his father and brothers into Egypt, he had been exalted to Second in Command to Pharaoh's authority.  There were about 80 members of Joseph's family that followed him to Egypt to live with him.  In a matter of a few years God prospered them and their numbers multiplied at record speed.  The second Pharaoh had taken power over Egypt and he became afraid that one day he would lose his power over Egypt if the Hebrews continued to grow in number.  So he passed a decree that the midwives were to kill all of the male babies born to the Hebrew women.  This did not work out because the midwives refused to kill off all the boy babies.  They believed life to be sanctified and holy.  They feared God more than they did Pharaoh.

I, too, believe in the gift of life.  We need to protect the unborn.  The death of an unborn child should not be thrown away because of someone's whim.  That baby is a life created in the image of God and we must protect the innocent.  I'm afraid our pulpits have become too silent to this ugly thing called abortion.  I'll not vote for a candidate for President who does not stand up to protect the innocent.  Church, we need to be the voice for those who have no choice.

God dealt well with the midwives.  Exodus 2:20-21says that God not only protected the midwives, but He prospered them.  Pharaoh saw that he was getting nowhere with the midwives, so he commanded all the people to take every son born to the Hebrew women and cast them into the river. [Exodus 2:22]

Parents, we are living in dangerous times for our children.  Today's world is wicked.  You need to safeguard your children as if their lives depend on it -- because it does!  Watch what kind of crowd you allow your children to "hang-out" with.  Don't let them be in the wrong places.  Mothers, if it means giving up your job to see that your children are raised with upstanding morals, give it up.  Don't let just anybody raise your child.  If it means giving up some of the world's gadgets, do it.  If it means giving up two or three vacations a year, give them up.  If it means bring on a tight budget, do it.  What is more important to you, your children or things?

Exodus 2:1: There was a man in the house of Levi who took a wife; she was the daughter of Levi.  They conceived a boy child.  This was a terrible time for them to have a son.  There was a death sentence on this innocent child.  No doubt this mother looked into the face of her baby and just as you mothers did with your babies, she fell in love instantly, vowing to protect him any way she could.  The baby's mother kept him hidden for three months.  When she could no longer hide him, she made an ark of bulrushes and daubed it with slime and pitch.  She placed the baby in the ark and put him in the flags at the river's bank.  Then she walked away.  This was one mother trying to protect her child anyway she could.  The baby's sister hid and watched.

I like the rest of the story.  Soon Pharaoh's daughter came to the river to bathe.  She saw the baby and ordered her maids to get it.  The baby started to cry.  It was then the baby's sister jumped into action.  Running to the women she probably said something like this, "Do you need someone to nurse the baby?  If you do, I know a woman who can help you."  Pharaoh's daughter commanded her to go get the woman.  Where do you think the sister ran to?  When the baby's mother arrived, Pharaoh's daughter told the woman to take the baby home with her and nurse it.  That's exactly what happened and when the baby no longer needed to be nursed, the mother brought it back to Pharaoh's daughter.  She raised him to be her son and named him Moses.

The story of Moses is not just a story.  It is an example of a mother's trust in god to do what she could not do.  She was just a poor slave woman who could not save her baby; but she knew God could.  To be a mother God is please with, you must first do whatever it takes to raise your child in a way that is pleasing to God.  Secondly, you must trust God to do what you cannot do.

Here's the rest of the story.  Moses' mother took him back to Pharaoh's daughter where he was raised to be well educated and where he had the best there was to offer.  God used that baby to deliver His people out of bondage -- all of this because of one mother's love and her trust in God.  If you want to be a mother that honors God, you will need to follow the example of Moses' mother.  Do whatever it takes to raise your child right. 

JR. Fields, Pastor
May 4, 2008