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Now a man from the house of Levi went and married a Levite woman.The woman conceived and bore a son; and when she saw that he was a fine baby, she hid him for three months. 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. His sister stood at a distance, to see what would happen to him. The daughter of Pharaoh came down to bathe at the river, while her attendants walked beside the river. She saw the basket among the reeds and sent her maid to bring it. When she opened it, she saw the child. He was crying, and she took pity on him. ‘This must be one of the Hebrews’ children,’ she said. Then his sister said to Pharaoh’s daughter, ‘Shall I go and get you a nurse from the Hebrew women to nurse the child for you?’Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, ‘Yes.’ So the girl went and called the child’s mother. Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, ‘Take this child and nurse it for me, and I will give you your wages.’ So the woman took the child and nursed it. When the child grew up, she brought him to Pharaoh’s daughter, and she took him as her son. She named him Moses, ‘because’, she said, ‘I drew him out of the water.’ (Exodus 2:1-10)
Friday is here! And thank you, dear Friend, for your prayers. Our trip to Corpus Christi was safe and we were able to take care of some matters and return safely in the same day. (Not as young as I used to be!) We did receive a sad call last night letting Nellie know that the last of her Mom's siblings died, Felicitas Zamora Guerrero, aka "Tía Faye," died at 95. She was a lovely lady and so caring and loving of all of us. Please pray for the family.
The story of Joseph ends with all of Israel moving to Egypt and becoming quite a large population. After Jacob's death and the arrival of a new Pharaoh, they no longer enjoyed the status and privileges given to them because of Joseph. The new Pharaoh viewed the Jews as a threat and so an order went out to kill all male Hebrew children born within Egypt. The Hebrew midwives had strict orders to kill the male child at its birth. The Hebrew men were ordered to work hard as slaves, with the hope that their tiredness would keep them from procreating. Well, as our story begins, one man was not too tired, and he and his wife had a son. As the story tells us, she hid the baby for three months, then had an ingenious plan: Hide the baby in a floating basket in the Nile River near where Pharaoh's daughter bathed in hopes that she would find the baby and adopt it as her own. The plan worked. She took it as her own, Moses' big sister asked the daughter if she needed a nurse for the baby, and offered the services of Moses' own mother. And Moses grew up in the palace of Pharaoh with a role that was of biblical proportions.
Moses knew his birth mother and she taught him about God and their own culture. Moses was able to know the difference between Hebrews and Egyptians, and one day as he was overseeing the labor of the Hebrews, he saw abuse being done to one of the Hebrew, and Moses intervened and the Egyptian was murdered. Moses thought no one had witnessed that murder, but a later fight between two Hebrews, Moses intervened again, and one of the Hebrews asked if Moses was going to kill him as he had killed the Egyptian? Oops, Moses fled. Scripture says that Pharaoh by now knew of the murder and wanted Moses dead. In his exile, Moses married into a good Midianite family, had a son and believed he could retire comfortably as a shepherd with his in-laws. The death of Pharaoh and the arrival of a meaner one, caused the people to cry out for help from God, and God would use this sojourning Hebrew to be their deliverer.
This story tells us that God is in control of all things. Even when things don't seem to be going right with us, God can still make a way. Here, we see that God used a wise mother to say the one who would be the one to set God's people free in Egypt, and all things worked for good in making that happen. It took time and patience, but it worked out. May what we face, work for good, as we pray and do what we need, trusting God.
PRAYER: Loving God, thank You for knowing and caring for us. Whatever we face, we face with You, trusting and loving You. May You be glorified is our prayer; in Christ Jesus we pray, amen.
Have a great and blessed day in the Lord! Be an instrument of the Lord's today in sharing hope.
Eradio Valverde
