The Sovereignty of God in a Life Part 1 of 2

by John Lowe
(Laurens SC, USA)

12-15-04

Title: The Sovereignty of God in a Life

Series: Moses-An Example of Leadership

Text: (Exodus 2:1-22)


Introduction

Moses was Israel’s Abraham Lincoln; a man raised up by God to break the shackles from a nation of slaves. He is a man of such importance in the Bible that he is named almost 700 times. His birth, just like the birth of all national heroes is of very great interest. He was born during a time of national crisis—when the first attempt was being made in history to exterminate the Hebrew people. He was protected by the power of God and actually raised to manhood in the very royal court he would later humble in the dust.

Today, our story is in the first 22 verses of Exodus 2. There are 3 things that we can pick out of these verses that will start us on our study of this great man.
1. THERE IS THE PROTECTION OF MOSES.
2. THERE IS THE PROVING OF MOSES.
3. THE PREPARATION OF MOSES.

The first 10 verses reveal the protection of Moses.

1 Now a man from the house of Levi went and took to wife a daughter of Levi.
2 The woman conceived and bore a son; and when she saw that he was a goodly child, she hid him three months.
3 And when she could hide him no longer she took for him a basket made of bulrushes, and daubed it with bitumen and pitch; and she put the child in it and placed it among the reeds at the river’s brink.
4 And his sister stood at a distance, to know what would be done to him.
5 Now the daughter of Pharaoh came down to bathe at the river, and her maidens walked beside the river; she saw the basket among the reeds and sent her maid to fetch it.
6 When she opened it she saw the child; and lo, the babe was crying. She took pity on him and said, “This is one of the Hebrews’ children.”
7 Then his sister said to Pharaoh’s daughter, “Shall I go and call you a nurse from the Hebrew women to nurse the child for you?”
8 And Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Go.” So the girl went and called the child’s mother.
9 And Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Take this child away, and nurse him for me, and I will give you your wages.” So the woman took the child and nursed him.
10 And the child grew, and she brought him to Pharaoh’s daughter, and he became her son; and she named him Moses, for she said, “Because I drew him out of the water.”

This is the age-old story of a man who sees a woman, falls in love with her and marries her. She loves him in return, and they have a child. This is what human life is all about and that’s the story we have here. The man’s name is Amram and the woman is Jochebed; they are slaves in Egypt, where the times were difficult, but they had faith to get married and have a family. There were two older children in the home when Moses was born, Aaron and Miriam. It was not easy to provide for another child, but God enabled them to do it, as He still does for parents today. Moses was a healthy baby and very handsome in appearance and his parents took that as evidence that God had given him for a great purpose.

I said that times were hard for the Hebrews. The king or Pharaoh not only worked them to the point of exhaustion, but he also ordered a halt to Jewish population growth. That meant that male children were to be killed. Now, Jochebed had a serious problem. She could no longer hide her child, because Moses had a good set of lungs and the day came when he could cry at the top of his lungs. She took her baby and placed him in an ark made from the bulrushes that grew along the shore of the Nile River.

A lot of religious people would have acted differently than this mother. They would say, “Well, we’re just going to trust the Lord.” That’s a wonderful statement to make, but do you really trust the Lord when you are playing the part of a fool? Jochebed would have been foolish to keep the child in her house when a guard passing by might have heard his cry. It would have meant instant death for Moses. I can hear someone saying, “I don’t believe the child would cry when the guard passed by.” How do you know? Faith is not a leap in the dark as I heard a liberal preacher say some years ago. God asks us to believe that which is good and solid. God never asks us to do foolish things. Jochebed did a sensible thing. She made a little ark and put Moses in it. But she did something else; she sent Moses’ sister to watch it and find out what would happen to her brother.

Now, you can see the hand of the Lord at work. The Lord is going to intervene in this situation. Pharaoh’s daughter came to the river to wash. It was undoubtedly a secluded spot. It was there she saw the ark, and she had one of her maids bring it to her. At that very moment it was the right time for the child to cry. In fact, the Lord pinched little Moses and he let out a yelp. That’s my opinion. That’s how God brought together two things He has made-a baby’s cry and a woman’s heart. Pharaoh’s daughter just couldn’t pass this little baby by. She recognized the baby to be of Hebrew lineage, but she was attracted to him despite the king’s decree.

Next, we are told that Miriam, Moses’ sister, made a very helpful suggestion to the princess. She suggests a woman from the Hebrews for a wet-nurse to nurse the baby for her. This is a real turn of events, and it shows how God worked to protect baby Moses. Moses’ real mother was the one called to nurse him and be paid for it. You can’t beat that, friends. You can’t beat God when He is moving in our hearts and lives. Jochebed and the princess made an agreement that she would bring the baby back after he was weaned. Moses was probably about two years old when his mother weaned him and took him to Pharaoh’s daughter (according to their agreement) and he became her son. Moses received all the rights, privileges, and education of an Egyptian prince. However, God didn’t only protect baby Moses, He also provide evidence to Moses of his purpose to help his people.

It says in verses 11-15:

11 One day, when Moses had grown up, he went out to his people and looked on their burdens; and he saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his people.
12 He looked this way and that, and seeing no one he killed the Egyptian and hid him in the sand.
13 When he went out the next day, behold, two Hebrews were struggling together; and he said to the man that did the wrong, “Why do you strike your fellow?”
14 He answered, “Who made you a prince and a judge over us? Do you mean to kill me as you killed the Egyptian?” Then Moses was afraid, and thought, “Surely the thing is known.”
15 When Pharaoh heard of it, he sought to kill Moses. But Moses fled from Pharaoh, and stayed in the land of Midian; and he sat down by a well.

The first 40 years of Moses’ life was spent in the courts of Pharaoh. He was raised and trained like an Egyptian. He looked like an Egyptian, talked like an Egyptian, and acted like an Egyptian. Moses, we are told was educated in all the wisdom of the Egyptians. The one great thing that lacked in Moses’ education was that he was not taught how to serve God. But don’t underestimate Moses, friends; he was an outstanding man.