Faith over fear. As mothers, we've never loved anything like this, but can we trust God to provide and protect in the midst of certain fear and danger? Over and over, Scripture tells us we can. Though obedience does not mean we are spared from hardship, God's sovereignty assures us we can hope in Him.

Did you catch the prep episode about why we named this the Dwelling Place? It connects perfectly to this topic! Go back and listen here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/dwelling-place-bible-plan-for-busy-moms/id1863449227?i=1000742766299

Jochebed's trust in the Lord reminds us of Nicole Fredericksen's faith in the latest episode of AGAIN. If you want to be encouraged about how the LORD is there for real people, here and now, listen in: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-again-podcast-on-biblical-motherhood/id1700555502

Today's Reading: Exodus 1-3

Scripture Read or Referenced:

Hebrews 11:23

Exodus 1:7, 15-22

Exodus 2:1, 2-10, 21-25

Exodus 3:2-12

This is the Dwelling Place

from Entrusted Ministries.

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I'm Stephanie Hickox.

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Today we'll continue looking at why

this God that dwells with us is a God

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that is wholly worthy of our trust.

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We will see that his

presence and blessing.

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Do not eliminate hardships

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but

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never thwarts his purposes in our lives.

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Today we'll focus on Exodus

chapters one through three though.

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We'll continue looking at a portion

of chapter three in the next episode.

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Before we get into those

passages, let's talk about the

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role of Exodus in the Bible.

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We see confirmation all over scripture,

even from Jesus that Moses wrote Exodus

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there are three main themes first we have

deliverance from bondage and redemption.

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No other incident is referred to more

in the Old Testament than Exodus.

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This is a miracle that the Lord is

pretty proud of as he should be.

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The second theme is worship.

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How does our God long to be worshiped?

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And it might surprise you,

but a major theme of Exodus is

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the revelation of God himself.

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Kevin Zuber writes Few other books

can rival the breadth of theology and

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teaching about God revealed in this book.

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The Theology of Exodus is foundational

for our understanding of the person

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and program of the Lord God, and the

remainder of the Old Testament, and

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indeed the whole Bible in Exodus, the

Lord is shown to be the God who keeps

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his covenant promise to the nation.

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He has the God who calls.

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Empowers and employs unlikely

but submissive servants.

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He is, I am.

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He is revealed as the one who demonstrates

his sovereign power and authority.

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While idols and false gods are proven

impotent, he is a holy God who desires

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his people to live before him in holiness.

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And to that end, he gave

them the 10 commandments.

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His very character is revealed in the law.

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He is displayed as the long suffering

and faithful God who cares for,

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provides for and protects his people.

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He is revealed as the awesome

and holy God who nevertheless

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desires to dwell in the presence

of his people in their tabernacle.

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He is the worthy God who

demands true worship.

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Amen.

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Right.

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It perfectly fits our theme of the

dwelling place, but I also wanted to

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include this because it's a wonderful

reminder that we're coming to the

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pages of God's word to learn who he is.

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So that we can be fully convinced

that he is worthy of our all.

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As we walk through this book of the Bible,

let's be looking for the character of God

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and how we can respond in worship to him.

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The Exodus itself is the greatest

symbol of redemption prior to the

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death and resurrection of Jesus.

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It's mentioned over 120 times

in the Old Testament and

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repeatedly in the New Testament.

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When I think about the Exodus, I think of

God saying, Hey, remember when I did that?

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It seems that this is one of his

favorite miracles he ever did,

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but why did he rescue his people?

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He did it so that they could be set apart

in holiness to worship and dwell with him.

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And that's just like us today.

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We'll be studying Exodus

chapters one through three.

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And I wanna point out a few key verses

before we get to our main portion.

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Chapter one, verse seven tells

us, but the people of Israel were

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fruitful and increased greatly.

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They multiplied and grew

exceedingly strong so that

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the land was filled with them.

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Here the Genesis command is

being obeyed and the Abrahamic

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covenant is being fulfilled.

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One objection to the Bible being true

and specifically the Book of Exodus is

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because critics say a people couldn't

have possibly multiplied this quick, But

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with God they could have, there's a new

Pharaoh different than the one that Jacob

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served, and he's threatened by the people

of Israel, so he turned them into slaves.

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He also asked the Hebrew midwives

to kill all of the baby boys.

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One reads, but the midwives

feared God and did not do as the

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King of Egypt commanded them,

but let the male children live.

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They told Pharaoh.

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The Hebrew women are not like the

Egyptian women for they are vigorous

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and give birth before the midwife comes

to them and God blesses them for it.

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So God dealt well with the

midwives and the people

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multiplied and grew very strong.

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and because the midwives feared

God, he gave them families.

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These Hebrews were used to

working very hard, so their bodies

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might have been more prepared

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However It's probably true that the

midwives did lie to Pharaoh because they

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feared God and did not want to take life.

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you can think about this as perhaps

breaking a speed limit to save someone's

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life, to get them to the emergency

room It was necessary to obey God's

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greater law of protecting life.

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And I don't know exactly what this

looked like, that the Lord bless them

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with families, but I have a little

picture in my head of these handsome

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Hebrew men starting to pursue them.

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If you've seen the Prince of Egypt,

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Then maybe you can imagine some

dashing characters starting to pursue.

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shift and pua.

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In any case, we have another

instance where the fear of

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God is elevated and rewarded.

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But sadly, chapter one ends, then

Pharaoh commanded all his people.

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Every son that is born to the Hebrews,

you shall cast into Nile, but you

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shall let every daughter live.

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And the very next verse at the

beginning of chapter two tells us

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now, a man from the house of Levi went

and took as his wife, a Levite woman.

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The woman conceived and bore a son.

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The word now is fascinating to me.

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Children are being killed and this

man takes a wife and she conceives.

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It appears to be a horrible

time to bring a child into this

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world, but it doesn't stop them.

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And I think about today as I

look around the world, does

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it seem like an ideal time?

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To bring children into this

unrest and confusion, but you

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can be at peace knowing that God's

purposes will not be thwarted.

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that, if he brings them into this

world and you follow his command to

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be fruitful and multiply, whether it's

physically bearing children or through

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spiritual multiplication, you can trust

the Lord is still at work even amidst.

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Unrest and chaos.

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Chapter two goes on and when she saw.

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That he was a fine child.

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She hid him for three months when

she could hide him no longer.

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She took for him a basket

made of bull rushes and dabbed

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it with bitman and pitch.

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She put the child in it and placed

it among the reeds by the river bank,

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and his sister stood at a distance

to know what would be done to him.

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Now the daughter of Pharaoh

came down to bathe at the river.

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While her young women walked

beside the river, she saw the

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basket among the reeds and sent

her servant woman, and she took it.

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When she opened it, she saw the

child and behold the baby was crying.

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She took pity on him and said,

this is one of the Hebrew children.

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Then his sister said to Pharaoh's

daughter, shall I go and call

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you a nurse from the Hebrew

woman to nurse the child for you?

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And Pharaoh's daughter said to her, go.

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So the girl went and called the child's

mother, and Pharaoh's daughter said,

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take this child away and nurse him for

me, and I will give you your wages.

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So the woman took the

child and nursed him.

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When the child grew older,

she brought him to Pharaoh's

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daughter and he became her son.

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She named him Moses because she

said I drew him out of the water.

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Later in scripture, we're told

that this mother's name is Ed, and

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the attention that she gives to

preparing this basket for Moses

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is a beautiful act of faith and surrender.

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It reminds me of our

theme passage in Psalm 84.

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The Nile River is full of

crocodiles and hippos, and perhaps

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she found a safe spot for it.

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I don't know, but this is another

act of surrender and instead of just

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doing carelessly, she walked in faith

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Much of the way she prepares this points

us back to Noah's preparations of the arc.

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This is such an act of faith that

Hebrews 11 gives her a shout out as well.

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1123 tells us by faith.

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Moses when he was born, was hidden for

three months by his parents because

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they saw that the child was beautiful

and they were not afraid of the king's

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edict and in the kindness of the Lord,

even though he was going to take Moses to

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set his entire nation free from slavery.

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He allows Moses' mom to continue to

nurse him and even be paid for it.

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Pharaoh's daughter named him after this

event, so Moses knew his origin story.

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He knows that he is a Hebrew.

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As we read on in chapter two, we see

Moses's strong sense of justice when

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he sees an Egyptian beating Hebrew.

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He murders the Egyptian

and then flees to Midian.

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There's a priest in Midian that

has seven daughters, moses

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stands up for them as well.

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Further confirming.

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That he was a man who stood up to

prevent injustice when he saw it,

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and that's certainly motivating for us.

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However we wanna do it in righteousness,

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Moses knew he needed to flee

because he had taken a life.

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Verse 21 tells us Moses was content

to dwell with his father-in-law and

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he gave Moses his daughter Zipporah.

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She gave birth to a son.

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And he called his name Ham for, he said,

I have been a sojourner in a foreign land.

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I.

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During those many days, the King

of Egypt died and the people of

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Israel groaned because of their

slavery and cried out for help.

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Their cry for rescue from slavery came

up to God, and God heard their groaning,

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and God remembered his covenant with

Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob.

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God saw the people of Israel

and God knew justice in

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genesis six.

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When God remembers it doesn't mean

that he ever forgot about them.

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It means he's about to

move in remembrance.

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And in chapter three, we're about to find

just how Moses is keeping his flock.

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When the age of the Lord appears to

him in a flame of fire in a bush,

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he looked and behold the bush was

burning, yet it was not consumed.

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And Moses said.

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I will turn aside and see this great

sight, why the bush is not burned.

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When the Lord saw that he had turned aside

to see, God called to him out of the bush.

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Moses.

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Moses, and he said, here I am.

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Then he said, do not come near.

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Take your sandals off your feet.

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For the place on which you

are standing is holy ground.

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And he said, I am the God of your

father, the God of Abraham, the

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God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.

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And Moses hid his face for

he was afraid to look at God.

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Then the Lord said, I have surely

seen the affliction of my people who

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are in Egypt and have heard their

cry because of their task masters.

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I know their sufferings and I have come

down to deliver them out of the hand of

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the Egyptians and to bring them up out

of the land to a good and broad land.

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A land flowing with milk and honey

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to the place of the Canaanites,

the Hivites, the Amorites.

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The parasites, the

Hivites and the Jebusites.

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And now behold, the cry of the

people of Israel has come to me and

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I have also seen the oppression.

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And Moses asks him, who am

I that I should do this?

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And God says, but I will be with you.

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will pick up there in the next

episode when we talk about

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Moses' response to God's call.

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Let's pray.

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Heavenly Father, we come before you.

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Grateful for these courageous Hebrew

midwives that feared and obeyed you,

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Even in what seems a terrifying and

hopeless situation, we pray that we

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would fear and obey you just as they did.

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As we look at Moses's parents

bringing a child into this world

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during a difficult time, we look

around at our world and the chaos.

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But we know you have a plan for our

children, and we pray that they would

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be a blessing to the world around them,

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that they would point to you as the

only savior that they would speak

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redemption Just as you used Moses

to bring people out of bondage.

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use our children in the same way.

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That they would spread the hope of

the gospel in a loving way that brings

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glory to you and you alone, Jesus.

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It's in your name we pray.

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Amen.