It was by faith that Moses “refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter”. It was by
faith that Moses chose “rather to be
mistreated with the people of God than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin”.
It was by faith that he “considered the reproach of Christ greater
wealth than the treasures of Egypt”. It was by faith that he “was looking ahead to the reward” that
could not be seen; and it was by faith that he had the “assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen”.[2]
There is no doubt that Moses’ faith was exemplary. Even his
salvation out of Egypt, his participation in the grand exodus from Egyptian
slavery, was by faith: “by faith he left
Egypt, not being afraid of the anger of the king, for he endured as seeing him
who is invisible”.
However, long before Moses had the faith to forsake all the
luxuries and pleasures that were his as a prince of Egypt, his life was already
surrounded by faith. When Moses was born, there was a faith that saved him from
a more imminent and immediate threat than what he was afraid would happen forty
years later when he killed the Egyptian slave-driver,[3] or eighty years later when God spoke through a burning
bush and told him to go lead Israel to their freedom in Christ.[4] Moses’ life was in danger of being snuffed out the
very day of his birth.
The same Scriptures that extol the exemplary faith of
Moses, tells us that, “By faith Moses,
when he was born, was hidden for three months by his parents, because they saw
that the child was beautiful, and they were not afraid of the king's edict.”[5] Moses’ parents could not surrender their child to
the king’s murderous edict, and so they were willing to save their child by
their faith. It was by their faith that they hid Moses for three months. It was
by faith that his mother made the basket, coated it with tar, and set Moses
among the reeds where she trusted God would preserve him from Pharaoh’s death
squads.[6]
Moses was saved by the grace of God operating to provide a
Savior-Deliverer. This grace of God did its work through the faith of Moses’
parents who were willing to face whatever trouble would come from Pharaoh
himself if it meant they could save their son from the deadly edict that was
hanging over their child’s head. Their faith saved him during his first few
months, and his faith saved him eight decades later when he followed the
presence of God in a pillar of cloud and fire right on out of the Egyptian
slavery.
Today this lesson was one more encouraging reminder that “by grace you have been saved through faith.
And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.”[7] At the same time, it was a convicting
reminder that “we are
his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared
beforehand, that we should walk in them.”[8]
Now, while the good works God calls people like us to do in
this day and age may seem tremendously smaller than what Moses did in
delivering Israel out of Egypt, it is the same God who makes us his
workmanship, and who prepares for us the works he wants us to do. Let us “walk in them” with the same faith as
Moses and his parents, living in the same grace they received from God our
Father.
From my heart,
Monte
© 2013 Monte Vigh ~
Box 517, Merritt, BC, V1K 1B8 ~ in2freedom@gmail.com
Unless otherwise
noted, Scriptures are from the English Standard Version (The Holy Bible,
English Standard Version Copyright © 2001 by Crossway
Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers.)
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