Welcome to this week’s Sunday school! Pastor Mike continued his series “By Faith” speaking about the faith of Moses. Once again, he got me thinking about things I had not previously considered. He made me realize I need to change how I read God’s word so it is more than just a narrative. There are lessons to be learned, actions to be considered, and promises to place in my heart for times of difficulty.
Hebrews Chapter 11 is just 40 verses in length. While pastor Mike focused on verses 23 – 29 which contains the word faith five times, the entire chapter uses the word faith 27 times. That’s a lot of faith for one chapter!
Verse 23 starts with the faith of Moses’s parents. I had never thought about his parents. After all, isn’t Moses the hero of the story? When though, was a hero ever a hero on his own?
Back in chapter one of the Book of Exodus, verses 15 – 22, we learned that Pharaoh gave an order to the Hebrew midwives to kill any male child born to a Hebrew woman. However, because the midwives feared God more than Pharaoh, they allowed the male babies to live. Since the midwives did not obey Pharaoh, he ordered his people to throw newborn Hebrew males into the Nile River.
Knowing this and seeing something special in their child, Moses’s parents hid the baby for three months. This took faith. They did not know if they would be able to hide him successfully for any length of time, yet they trusted God to protect him. It was because of their faith, his parents were able to make the decision to put baby Moses in a basket and hide him in the reeds only to be found by Pharaoh’s daughter who chose to adopt him.
God blessed Moses’s mother for her faith as she was the Hebrew woman who nursed Moses until he was old enough to be returned to Pharaoh’s daughter. Moses, though raised as an Egyptian, knew he was a Hebrew child. Because of his faith in God, we’re told he chose to share the oppression of God’s people.
He thought it was better to suffer for the sake of Christ than to own the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking ahead to his great reward. (v26)
Moses gave up all the riches of Egypt for God! Today I think most people would try and figure out how they could have their cake and eat it too!
Lest you put Moses on a pedestal, let’s remember he was still an imperfect human. Moses upon seeing an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, stepped in and killed the Egyptian. Moses was guilty of murder!
It was because of Moses’s faith he came back to the land of Egypt and confronted Pharaoh delivering the 10 plagues. Because of their faith, Moses and the Hebrews sprinkled lambs’ blood on their doorposts so the Angel of death would pass over their families. This was a foreshadowing of the blood Christ would shed for us one day.
What does this mean to us? Like the Hebrews, living for God does not mean we will be free from persecution. When we turn from the ways of this world and turn to God, we will be persecuted, ridiculed, and in today’s nomenclature, the world will try and cancel us.
We must do as Moses did. We must be willing to accept this burden looking ahead to our greater reward in heaven. Following God’s will for his life was not easy for Moses. It will not be easy for us. God doesn’t expect us to be perfect. He does call us to obedience, to love, to change, and to humble ourselves before Him and to remember, by faith His promises are greater than anything this world has to offer!
May God bless you this week and until next Sunday …
– PSG –
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