One of the greatest people in the history of Israel is Moses. Through him God delivered His chosen people of Israel out of slavery in Egypt. He led them through the desert, gave them the Ten Commandments and all the laws of God.
But Moses’ life almost ended long before God could have done any of these through him. When he was born there was a law in Egypt to kill the male children born to Hebrew women. Moses should have died after he was born. Hebrews 11 tells us how Moses was spared the death that waited for him.
By faith Moses’ parents hid him for three months after he was born, because they saw he was no ordinary child, and they were not afraid of the king’s edict. (Hebrews 11:23)
It was the faith of Moses’ parents that saved him. They trusted God more than they feared the laws of Egypt. Before that, their faith gave them a gift that we should learn to use in our own lives.
Scripture says, “they saw he was no ordinary child.” When you look at a group of children, what do you see? Boys and girls, dark hair and blonde, thin and husky. Some are quiet and some are talkative. Others can’t sit still while one looks all alone on the edges of the group. The closer a child is to birth, the less they stand out from others. If you were to visit a nursery in the hospital you would see a bunch of newborn boys and girls crying, sleeping, wrapped in white blankets. How could you tell the difference between an “ordinary” child and one who isn’t?
Faith gives us the ability to see what is special in each other. We are all special in some way, and we tend to forget that as we grow older. Our mothers told it to us once upon a time, but then we decided that since it was just Mom saying, it didn’t really mean anything. God made us all unique, and to Him we are all special. Ephesians 2:10 says, “we are God’s masterpiece.”
Our faith gives us the ability to see what others do not. In the case of Moses’ parents, their faith helped them see he was more than just Mom’s kind of special, he was unique. God made him for something great; they could not bear to see him killed.
The book of Exodus tells us their story:
Now a man of the house of Levi married a Levite woman, and she became pregnant and gave birth to a son. When she saw that he was a fine child, she hid him for three months. But when she could hide him no longer, she got a papyrus basket for him and coated it with tar and pitch. Then she placed the child in it and put it among the reeds along the bank of the Nile…
Then Pharaoh’s daughter went down to the Nile to bathe, and her attendants were walking along the river bank. She saw the basket among the reeds and sent her slave girl to get it. She opened it and saw the baby. He was crying, and she felt sorry for him…
When the child grew older … he became her son. She named him Moses, saying, “I drew him out of the water.” (Exodus 2:1-10)
We often hear how faith gives us the ability to wait for what God has promised to us. We hear that faith gives us power to do what God creates and calls us to do. It is time for us to hear that faith gives us eyes to see what others do not see. We need God’s eyes to see the best in one another. When we see what is special and unique in each other, and we encourage one another, it will grow and blossom.
After Moses’ parents recognized what was special in him they set him afloat on the river. Later, Pharaoh’s daughter found him. As she pulled him out of the water and recognized that he was a Hebrew baby, did she a call guard to come and execute him? No, she recognized the extraordinary in him that drove unknown parents to spare him. She confirmed that he was special, and set in motion the path of his life that would lead to the fulfillment of God’s plan.
Are you looking for the special gift that God gave you in the people around you? Each person that God brings into your life is a gift, and they are the masterpiece of God. You live in an art gallery. Let your faith give you eyes to see the beauty in the lives around you.
Chris MacKinnon 