[1. fuel] – ginny @ 17:49:49
God heard their cries and remembered his covenant promise to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He looked down on the Israelites and felt deep concern for their welfare. ~~Exodus 2:24-25, New Living Translation
Before I read this chapter I thought I knew the story of Moses–I’d seen “Prince of Egypt” more times than I can count. However, when I read this chapter I saw Moses early childhood in a new way–it really made me think about how the Israelites were forced to live one moment at a time. Living in such harsh conditions, and in such oppression, each moment mattered. This came through for me when I read the stories of the mother, Moses, and his sister.
Every moment was precious to Moses’ mother. She gave birth to this beautiful little boy but in order to keep him alive, she was forced to keep him hidden—for 3 months. She must have cherished every moment with the baby knowing that at any time, she could lose him. What did she do when he cried? She probably gave Moses such focused attention. Caring for this little gift must have given her such joy and sorrow at the same time.
When the mother put the baby in the basket and let him go it must have been heart wrenching. I think that she took great care to ensure that the basket was waterproof; she probably took as long as she needed to because each moment the basket was in the water was about survival.
Being put in the river, baby Moses was laid ‘among the reeds along the edge of the Nile.’ The reeds would have provided extra protection for the little baby and probably helped to keep him close to shore. The more I thought about this, I couldn’t help but think that the mother must have felt that every moment that the baby was safe was a gift; while at the same time, might have seemed like an eternity. If it were me, I probably would have agonized over “Did I waterproof it enough? What if this doesn’t work? What if he just drifts along and no one finds him? What more can I do?” But in the end, she had no choice but to let him go.
Then the baby’s sister watched Moses drift in the basket for as long as she could—-again, each moment was precious. She wanted to make sure the baby was okay. Then seeing the Pharaoh’s daughter respond to the ‘helpless cries’ of the baby, Moses’ older sister seized the moment and played a critical role in getting the baby back to his mother, if only to nurse for a little while. This young girl knew that it was important to buy some time for her mom and brother to be together, however short-lived it was.
When I read on through this chapter, I noticed how quickly time went by—-years passed and Moses grew up and became a man. Something occurred to me, though. Even though the time passed quickly in terms of the narrative story, verse 23 reminds us that the time probably didn’t seem to pass quickly for the Israelites that were still under Pharaoh’s oppression. Even after the king died, the Israelites could only look from one moment to the next—-it was a matter of survival. Like at the beginning of the chapter where the princess responded to the helpless cries of the baby in the basket, God heard the cries of the Israelites and remembered his covenant promise—to be the God of the Israelites and their descendants. God was their God—God was aware of their oppression. Time seemed to pass quickly for Moses while the Israelites seemed to survive moment by moment; but as I got to verses 23-25, I was reminded that everything was, and is, in God’s time.
Does your time usually coincide with God’s timing? There have been times when I’ve cried out to God asking for a door to open so that my circumstances would change. I don’t know about you, but it’s not very often that my timing, coincides with God’s timing. As in the past, I continue to be given opportunities to learn endurance…perseverance. The thing is that the more I ‘practice’ endurance (whether enthusiastically or reluctantly) the more I realize that my timing doesn’t hold a candle to God’s timing.
So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be strong in character and ready for anything. ~~ James 1:4, New Living Translation
I guess maybe my ‘when’ isn’t as important as the now that God has given me.
© 2005 ginny rogers
