评论
打印
??Lindsay was so excited! Mother had just called from the doctor's office："Lindsay, " she said, "We're going to have a new baby in the family!" Lindsay thought of all the people she wanted to tell：her friend Amy next door, her grandmother, and her teacher at school!
??In our Bible lesson today there was also a new baby, it was a boy! But shhh! Mother Jochebed and Father Amram are not telling ANYONE about their new baby son! And shhh! Big sister Miriam and brother Aaron were not allowed to tell either. Why not？Because this was a Hebrew family and the King of Egypt had ordered that when a Hebrew baby was born, if it were a girl, it could live; but if it were a boy, it was to be thrown into the Nile River to drown! Why would the King make such a wicked rule？After all, if it hadn't been for a Hebrew man named Joseph, and if it hadn't been for the God of the Hebrews, there wouldn't even BE an Egypt, for God had used the Hebrews to save Egypt from starvation. But this new king did not remember Joseph, nor did he care about the Hebrews' God, Who is the true and living God Who created all things. This new king had one big worry：He felt there were getting to be TOO MANY Hebrews, and that they were much stronger than the Egyptians. He said to his people, "Suppose we have a war and those Hebrews decide to fight against us! We've got to do something to cut down their population and cut back their power."
??The king's plan was to make the Hebrew people work very hard as slaves, carrying heavy loads of stone and building treasure cities for himself. But a strange thing happened! The harder the Egyptians made the Hebrews work, the more they afflicted them.why, the more they grew! Finally, the king, or Pharoah as Egyptian kings were called, said to his people："Every Hebrew girl that is born, let it live; but every Hebrew boy that is born, throw him in the Nile River to drown!" Link：What a wicked, sinful heart Pharoah had to want to murder a little baby! You and I would never do that, would we？To kill a baby before it is born, after it is born, when it grows to be a child like you, or a grown-up like me.it is all the same to God.
??It is murder and it is a terrible sin. Is it going to surprise you when I say to you that you and I have sinful hearts too？Even though we would never murder a precious baby, yet the Bible says, The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked：who can know it？Jeremiah l7：9. Sometimes we think we are good because we see how bad other people are, but God sees that all our hearts are sinful. When you lie, disobey your parents, or say or do hurtful things to others, that is sin. And it is sin that keeps us away from God and His family. But God's loving plan for you is that you become part of His family and enjoy Heaven forever with Him! He has filled Heaven with wonderful things to make you happy forever. And He has made a way for you to have your sins forgiven and be in Heaven.
??Do you remember that we have talked about the Lord Jesus Christ？As the perfect Son of God, He is the One Who carried out God's plan for your sin to be forgiven. Jesus took your punishment by suffering and dying on a wooden cross many years ago. When He was dying, He was not only giving His blood as a payment for your sin, but also suffering great pain for your sin. After Jesus died, He was buried, came alive in 3 days and then went back to Heaven to be with God. He is alive in Heaven today and ready to forgive sin, no matter how wicked or sinful our hearts may be. It is sad that Pharoah did not care about God's forgiveness for his wicked, sinful heart. He was ordering that all the Hebrew boy babies be killed. That is why the family in our lesson today had to hide their new baby boy, and keep him a secret from everyone!
??Day after day they hid him. It must've been hard, for babies cry loud, don't they？Do you suppose Mother Jochebed and Father Amram worried a lot？"What if an Egyptian neighbor comes by and hears the baby cry？" "What if brother Aaron forgets and tells some of his friends about his baby brother？" "What if the baby gets sick and needs a doctor？" There could have been a lot of "what if's" to worry about, but the Bible tells us that this Hebrew family hid their baby "by faith." That means they trusted God to take care of him. Jochebed and Amram were trusting God to take care of their baby boy.
??After 3 months, the Bible says they could no longer hide him. But they were still trusting God, even as Jochebed took a big basket and put pitch or tar on it to make it waterproof. Tenderly she wrapped her healthy little boy and placed him in the basket. She and Miriam took him quietly down to the Nile River and put the basket afloat in the Nile River, wedged and hidden in some tall reeds by the bank of the river. Big sister Miriam was left to watch and see what would happen. And she didn't have to wait long! She heard women talking and laughing, and peeping out from her place, Miriam saw, oh no! Not the princess of Egypt! Yes, she was lovely, but she was the daughter of the Pharoah who had made the rule to murder the Hebrew boy babies! Oh, how Miriam hoped she wouldn't see, but no! She DID see, in fact, she ordered her maid to go get that basket out of the reeds.
??Shall we hold our breath with Miriam as the princess opens the basket and stares down at Miriam's darling baby brother! Oh, no the poor darling baby began to cry. Miriam heard the princess say, "Oh, this is one of the Hebrew baby boys!" The princess knew that baby was Hebrew, and she also knew her father's commandment! But God touched the heart of the princess, and she not only had compassion for that little fellow but adopted him as her own son! Then God put on Miriam's heart just the right thing to do.
??She went to the princess boldly and said, "Shall I go and call a Hebrew mother to help you care for this child？" The princess said, "Go." And Miriam went! She went straight to her own mother ! Quickly Jochebed went to meet the princess. How amazed she was to hear the princess say, "Take this child away and nurse him for me. I will pay you to take care of him." Oh, what a wonderful God we have, children! We can trust Him to take care of us! MTS：Have you been fretting or worrying about things？There are many dangers, many hard things in this world, even for children like you. But if you have believed in the Lord Jesus and asked Him to save you from your sin, you are His child. Take your worries to Him in prayer. Trust Him to take care of you! Remember that sometimes God takes the problem away from you. And at other times, God will take you away from the problem. Still there are times when your wise, loving Heavenly Father will take you right through the problem. No matter how God works, trust Him to take care of you in the very best way!
??Jochebed walked home with her baby boy in her arms! She did not have to hide him now, and she would be paid to take care of her own son! Surely she and her family praised God together for His wonderful care of their son. They enjoyed every minute of the years they had together, and I'm sure Jochebed taught this little boy about the true and living God. When he was probably between 3 and 5 years old, Jochebed knew it was time to take him to the princess. The princess took him and named him Moses, which means "drawn out." Why do you think she named him that？Yes, because she drew him out of the water. No doubt Jochebed was sad to leave her little son at the palace, but she knew very well she could trust God to continue to care for little Moses.
