Jim Gallagher

Exodus 2:3
“But when she could no longer hide him, she took an ark of bulrushes for him, daubed it with asphalt and pitch, put the child in it, and laid it in the reeds by the river’s bank.”

The book of Exodus begins with a love story. A young man and a young woman meet, fall in love, marry and have a beautiful child named Moses. What might have promised a lifetime of happiness, was suddenly interrupted by conditions beyond their control. An edict from the king, put the soldiers on high alert,  ordered to put to death all male Hebrew children. These conditions forced Moses’ parents to do the unthinkable, they placed their young child in a crude raft, and set him adrift in the Nile river. Years later, the writer of Hebrews explains that it was not fear, but faith that drove their decision.

Hebrews 11:23
“By faith Moses, when he was born, was hidden three months by his parents, because they saw he was a beautiful child; and they were not afraid of the king’s command.”

Very few of us will face a trial that forces us to put our child adrift in the Nile, but all of us will have to learn to trust our children into the hands of God.

This particular passage has been a source of great comfort to those whose families have been split apart due to divorce. It is often the case, that one parent is trying desperately to raise the children in the ways of the Lord, while the other seems to be purposefully undermining them. It is in times like these, we must put our children in the proverbial basket, and trust them into the hands of God.

Faith in the promises and providence of God is a much more effective approach than being driven by the fear of what may happen. As the story of Moses unfolds, we see the hand of God accomplishing what Moses’ parents were incapable of doing on their own.

Pastor Jim