Summer At Sea: Week 3 Day 6

Exodus 2:5-10

5 Then Pharaoh’s daughter went down to the Nile to bathe, and her attendants were walking along the riverbank. She saw the basket among the reeds and sent her female slave to get it. 6 She opened it and saw the baby. He was crying, and she felt sorry for him. “This is one of the Hebrew babies,” she said.

7 Then his sister asked Pharaoh’s daughter, “Shall I go and get one of the Hebrew women to nurse the baby for you?”

8 “Yes, go,” she answered. So the girl went and got the baby’s mother. 9 Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Take this baby and nurse him for me, and I will pay you.” So the woman took the baby and nursed him. 10 When the child grew older, she took him to Pharaoh’s daughter and he became her son. She named him Moses, saying, “I drew him out of the water.”

What a story! Hollywood writers should be envious. Only this is not just a story; all through this week’s Scripture we can see God’s hand moving ordinary people and kings to accomplish His will. It was not a coincidence that the baby’s mother chose that day to place him in the ark (basket) that she had prepared. It was not a coincidence that at that moment Pharoah’s daughter would be bathing, or that the slave girl would hear the baby crying and that she would feel compassion for him, even though she could see he was a boy Hebrew baby.

The last part of this account is my favorite. Moses’ sister was watching all this unfold and at just the right moment she courageously asked if she could get a Hebrew woman to nurse the baby, and Pharaoh’s daughter said yes. God put all this into place to save the baby that would become the deliverer of the Hebrew people, but in the middle of this important plan our great God interjected a gift to a worried, but faithful mother’s heart; she knew her son was safe and she herself would have him for almost three more years. 

We really need to look at our own stories and try to see God’s hand of provision and compassion even when we are going through the most excruciating times of our lives. God knows our story and He is there for us, always!