Word for the day by Christian Education Forum
Small acts of faith: Participation in God's Plan
When she could hide him no longer, she took for him a basket
made of bulrushes and daubed it with bitumen and pitch. She put the child in it
and placed it among the reeds by the river bank.
(Exodus 2:3)
This passage describes a simple event in Moses' life, and yet is so very
important for Christians. It is important for us, not only because the line of
Abraham, Jacob and all others before Moses is preserved by the Lord, for he had
promised great works through them. It shows us also how seemingly small acts by
ordinary people assume great importance in hindsight, and can have great
consequences.
In
those days, the Hebrews were a proud race who were recently enslaved by the
Pharaoh. He had crushed their souls by taking all that was rightfully theirs,
and put them to work for inhumanly long hours and nearly impossible work. The
Pharaoh knew that if left unchecked, the Hebrew populace could grow large and
pose a military threat to the Egyptians. So, he commanded the midwives to
slaughter newly-born boys and allow only baby girls to survive, in order to
break the back of any such uprising.
Alas, the Pharaoh had discounted the Lord's plan for his people. For when Moses was born, his mother hid him as long as she could, and when the baby had become too big to hide, she let him flow into the river, fully trusting that the Lord would protect him. One can only imagine a mother's anguish to put one's infant child into the river. But such was the faith of the woman in the Lord, that not only did the Lord bring her child into the Pharaoh's family, but arranged it in such a way that she only would nurse her own child.
What I take away from this passage is that even though you may not be a famous person, (in fact, the Bible doesn't even mention Moses' mother by name at this point, even though I feel she has done one of the most courageous acts ever mentioned in the Bible), or you may not believe that your acts of faith could be important, God needs each one of us to follow through our plan till the point God can take over. If Moses' mother had not put in the effort to hide her baby even in such hopeless times, then things might have been very different today.
Alas, the Pharaoh had discounted the Lord's plan for his people. For when Moses was born, his mother hid him as long as she could, and when the baby had become too big to hide, she let him flow into the river, fully trusting that the Lord would protect him. One can only imagine a mother's anguish to put one's infant child into the river. But such was the faith of the woman in the Lord, that not only did the Lord bring her child into the Pharaoh's family, but arranged it in such a way that she only would nurse her own child.
What I take away from this passage is that even though you may not be a famous person, (in fact, the Bible doesn't even mention Moses' mother by name at this point, even though I feel she has done one of the most courageous acts ever mentioned in the Bible), or you may not believe that your acts of faith could be important, God needs each one of us to follow through our plan till the point God can take over. If Moses' mother had not put in the effort to hide her baby even in such hopeless times, then things might have been very different today.
Prayer: O Lord, please let
me recognize that everything I do originates from you, and let me carry out all
my duties and responsibilities faithfully, however ordinary they might be. Keep
me motivated and strong so that my work, which may seem small to me, may become
important parts of your plan.
Thought for the Day: ‘Small is beautiful’
Vivek Sonny Abraham, London