At the bank of the Nile River lay a special baby boy, fine to look upon and crying for his life. Just nearby is the famous Nile River that has swallowed many Hebrew boys his age and he is next in line. He lays there in his little watertight crib crying awaiting his turn. It is just a matter of time.
Hiding nearby to bid him farewell and witness his execution is his brave sister, Miriam. A brave warrior. Hiding in the bushes but brave. How long does she have to wait in the bushes to bid her baby brother farewell? She doesn’t know. How long does she have to helplessly endure the sorry cry of her baby brother from the reeds? She doesn’t know. She waits, endlessly. Where is his God? The God of the Hebrews we have been told so much about. Why is He silent whilst evil triumphs? She wonders as she keeps searching along the riverbank for the imminent appearance of her brother’s Executioner.
Suddenly amidst her brother’s cries, she hears voices along the bank of the Nile River, the grave to many Hebrew boys. She is startled, confused and a sense of foreboding creeps over her. Alas, the end is here; she thinks to herself. She cautiously peeps through the reeds and is horrified by what she sees. Her brother’s destiny could not have been more badly scripted. Pharoah’s daughter! Her brother’s execution is sure, and the Executioner is from Satan’s household. Her baby brother’s cries are not helping the situation. She closes her eyes, unable to face the reality. She wished it was all a dream. He cries out even louder as though bidding his sister his final farewell. Reluctantly she opens her eyes again, and it is not a dream. Every faint of hope quickly fades away. Three months is all they managed together. His hour has come. She is overwhelmed with grief. This is why their mother could not be here.
Many thoughts race through her mind. “Should I stay and watch the next horrific scenes so I can recount at home in full detail?” “Should I just leave and spare myself from witnessing the inevitable?” “Should I yield to the urge building up within me to run and rescue my baby brother by my might?”
Before she can make up her mind, the servants of Pharoah’s daughter move towards their prey. It is too late to do anything. The Nile has opened its mouth ready to swallow yet another Hebrew boy. Suddenly, she hears a calm voice behind her, “Be still, and know that I am God”. Without turning to see who spoke to her, she obeys and stays still. Her teary eyes keep their gaze on her baby brother and her ears tuned to every word to be muttered. She watches. She prays.
What happens next shocks her. For the very first time, the Nile is about to shut its mouth without a catch. If Miriam had not remained dead still, with eyes fixed and ears tuned up, she would have reacted just a second too late. She hears her baby brother’s Executioner correctly identifies her victim as a Hebrew boy deserving of death. Yet she is filled with deep love and compassion for the adorable boy that she is unwilling to carry out her father’s orders. This was not part of the script. Has their God finally showed up?
What Miriam does next without a thought, is why I call little Miriam hiding in the bushes, a brave warrior. She jumps out from her hiding place and dashes onto the scene. Completely uninvited, she boldly asks Pharoah’s daughter if she can help her save a Hebrew boy Pharoah has ordered to die. As though to say, let us do this whilst you are still full of love and compassion for this Hebrew boy. And to her shock and to the shock of all the witnesses, Pharoah’s daughter declares, this child must live. And this is when the Nile grave shut its mouth. Oh death, where is thy sting?
This is how God delivered a Deliverer; planted a mole in Pharoah’s courts; and made a King groom his foe. A baby boy who lived the first 80 years (save a couple of early years) of his life away from his family and kindred to be trained by the very best in the world for close to 40yrs with a curriculum befitting of a Pharoah-in-the-making. His name is Moses, meaning “pulled out.” Pulled out of the mouth of death.
The rest of the story of this special Hebrew baby boy is written in the Book of Exodus of the Holy Bible authored by the boy himself.
Be STILL and know that He is God. When you walk through the valley of the shadows of death, remember Moses got to the bank of death but was not numbered among the other dead Hebrew boys. His God, your God, will show up and will be with you. He will pull you out or walk you through it. Until He shows up, you are not in the last hour. It is inconsequential how hopeless and final the situation seems; it is not the end until He shows up and says so. He steps in when man gives up – at just the exact moment when flesh leaves the scene. When Moses’s parents gave up on protecting their handsome son because it was no longer fleshly possible to do so, God received the invitation to show up. When it ends for man, is exactly when He starts.
The guarantee for His children living in His Will, is that He has the final say. This is the heritage of His children, and your righteousness is OF Him, not of you. Be sure of this, please believe!
Are you a beneficiary of this heritage? Have you accepted Jesus Christ as the Savior and Lord of your life? “For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures.”
By Joseph Asare Jnr
