Moses in the bulrushes.     Exodus 2: 1- 10. Luke 2: 33 – 35

Faith, hope and love

This true story about Moses in the bulrushes is a fantastic account of living by faith.

In those days the Hebrew people lived by faith in the God of Israel, from the time of Abraham up to Moses.

Martin Luther King Jr said, “Faith is taking the first step even when you don’t see the whole staircase.” Corrie Ten Boom wrote, “Faith is the radar that sees through the fog.”

Levi Amram and Jochebed his wife had faith in God’s plans and purposes for their baby son even though Pharaoh had decreed that Hebrew baby boys to be disposed of in the Nile.

Now their son was three months old it must have been harder to hide him as babies cry when they’re hungry,

The writer of the letter to the Hebrews writes that they were not afraid of Pharaoh’s decree.

 “By faith Moses, when he was born, was hid 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.

They sought God’s help to save their son’s life.

They believed and expected that the God of Israel could change their sons circumstances.

That’s true for us when our faith leads us to pray and expect God to act on our situations.

William Barclay writes: When we pray, remember:

1. The love of God wants the best for us.
2. The wisdom of God that knows what is best for us.
3. The power of God that can accomplish it.

Answered prayer leads to action.

Through their faith Moses parents were inspired to either make or find a basket that they could adapt to float on the waters of the Nile.

visual aid – A lady playing the part of Jochebed placed the baby in the basket and left him on our river scene in the bulrushes.

How hard it must have been for Jochebed his mother to let go of that basket.

Even when our children are older it’s hard to let go, when our girls left home to go to University it really came as a surprise how hard it was to let them go.

And last month our youngest daughter emigrated to Australia. This week we attended a leaving party for our nephew who has gone to Australia. We are trusting that Father God will take care of them, so we let go.

The baby not alone 

He was surrounded by God’s creatures. The children brought  forward and placed on the scene: ducks, mother hen and her chicks, birds

Hope

C S Lewis wrote, “”If you read history you find that the Christians who did most for the present world were precisely those who thought most of the next.”

Our hope rests on God being able to let go when Jesus was born into this world, God in his foreknowledge knowing he would suffer.

In our Gospel reading Simeon’s word to Mary the mother of Jesus, “Behold, (take notice) this child is set for fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign that is spoken against and a sword will pierce through your own soul also that the thoughts out of many hearts may be revealed.”

Being forewarned by God of the events during Jesus’ life that would cause them to worry about him.

Joseph had a dream

God spoke to Joseph in a dream, he was forewarned to take the young child and his mother to Egypt to escape Herod’s plan of slaying children under 2 years.

Joseph and Mary thought they had lost Jesus.

It’s really an anxious time when your child gets separated from you, while out shopping, so we can feel for Joseph and Mary when. at the age of twelve Jesus went missing and they found him totally unaware of time in the Temple at Jerusalem discussing the scriptures with the teachers listening to them and asking questions. Luke 12: 41-51.

We have incidents to go through with our children that may concern us, but acting on our faith we can put them into the hands of the Lord and rest in the hope that God has the whole picture present and future.

Miriam  the sister of Moses maybe knew about the plan or she saw her mother carry the basket to the river Nile, she watched closely as she waited to see in whose hands he would fall. Perhaps they hoped that the daughter of Pharaoh would come and bathe there.

The daughter of Pharaoh came down to the river Nile to bathe and she saw the basket and sent her maid to fetch it to her. Opening the basket she heard the babies cry and took pity on him.  The Daughter of Pharaoh named him Moses “Because I drew him from the water”.

Miriam’s hope for her mum that she would look after him , so she recommended to the daughter of Pharaoh that a Hebrew nurse could look after him.

Our Hope is that God is faithful that He will complete what He has begun.

How blessed Jochebed was to have her son in her arms safe and well.

Visual Aid – Baby Moses taken out of basket and given to Jochebed

LOVE

God is love,

How can God love so many of us personally all at once?                            

When someone challenged Galileo to explain how God could be so powerful and yet care for every person, he replied; “The sun, with all those planets revolving around it, are dependent upon it, and it can still ripen a bunch of grapes as if, it had nothing else in the universe to do.”

When I became a Christian I gave our two children to the lord for His hand upon their lives. They have heard the message of the cross and they have responded to it, then when they left home they were free to do their own thing. I had to let go and leave it to the Lord. I have since found that God allows our children to go their own way in order to find God for themselves.

Moses left Egypt

Moses always knew his true identity his mother told him, it was many years later when God intervened in his life to reveal himself to him, and so he fulfilled God’s plan and purpose for his life. Under his leadership the Hebrew people became a nation.

Our eldest daughter she came to a living faith through attending Kay Street Alpha Course. Her faith took on substance, head knowledge became heart knowledge

Our youngest daughter  I’m still praying for her, I believe it will happen one day.

Two years ago my sister’s son called her from Australia and told her that he had accepted Jesus as his Saviour and he recalled the holidays at Holly Bush Christian Camp when he heard and saw people come to faith.  Now he knew it for himself.

God’s Love will never let us go, his love fills the empty space within us that only God can fill.

Faith Hope and Love

Faith in God is where God takes his child by the hand and leads us to hope for the future. Hope reveals a plan of action, where we walk with the Lord following him and all is bound together in love.

Children give out the love gift of flowers.