Agents of Hope
“He dealt craftily with our race and forced our ancestors to abandon their infants so that they would die. At this time Moses was born, and he was beautiful before God. For three months he was brought up in his father’s house; and when he was abandoned, Pharaoh’s daughter adopted him and brought him up as her own son.”
—Acts 7:19-21
Observation:
When watching The Ten Commandments starring Charlton Heston we see the Egyptian soldiers running through the villages of the Hebrews killing all the male infants with the sword. But according to Stephen, in the book of Acts, the method of death was abandonment. When we read about this account in the book of Exodus it says that the Pharaoh commanded the male children to be thrown into the Nile River. Either way when we read that Moses mother placed her baby in a basket and abandoned Moses among the reeds of the Nile River, she was giving into Pharaoh’s command. She tried to hide the infant child as long as she could, the passage in Exodus tells us, but when she could no longer hide the child she succumbed to the command of Pharaoh and abandoned her baby to the Nile River. This is not the defiant mother we see in the movie The Ten Commandments, but rather a broken woman who has finally submitted to tyranny when she could no longer hide from it.
The story of Moses does not end there. Moses is found by the daughter of Pharaoh and then given back to his mother to nurse. When Moses’ mother came to the end of her rope and gave in to the hopelessness of the situation that seemed to engulf her world God made a way out of no way. She didn’t abandon Moses hoping to get him back one day, no she abandoned him to die, but God in his mercy and magnificence gave Moses back to her and Moses’ life became defined by this act. The statement “a way out of no way” defined Moses’ life, as he was destined to be the liberator of the Hebrew people. The hero of this story is not Pharaoh’s daughter, it definitely is not Moses’ mother, but rather the hero of the story is Moses’ sister, Miriam. If it was not for her watchful eye Moses’ mother would never of received her son back. Moses still would have gone on to accomplish what God had destined for him, but his mother would have missed the whole thing. The moral of the story is that even when we give into hopelessness God can always pave a way for us; we just need to keep a watchful eye.
Application:
There are going to be situations that seem hopeless and will get the better of us leading us to succumb to the looming despair. There will be times where we just can’t take no more and give in to the voices calling us into the dark. The reality is that many are battling the demon of despair and hopelessness right now in their lives. But the truth is even in the darkest moments of life there is a light at the end of the tunnel; we just are not in position to see it. Sometimes we need someone else to identify the light for us like Moses’ sister did for his mother. This passage is not about the power of positive thinking; this passage is about the power of God to make a way out of no way and being able to see God at work.
Two principals jump out at me from this passage that are extremely important to apply to my life. The first principal is always leave room for hope. The only time a situation can become truly hopeless is when we succumb to the temptation to surrender our hope. For example, Moses’ mother had no way of knowing if Pharaoh, or the agents acting on his behalf, would discover Moses, but she assumed they would and thus gave up hope that her baby could continue to live. The second principal is the need of having people around us who can identify hope even when we cannot; we need agents of hope in our lives. Moses’ sister never took her eye off Moses, and because of her tenacity she was able to identify hope; Miriam was able to act as an agent of hope for her mother and thus bring Moses back to her mother or maybe better stated, as she was able to bring her mother back to Moses.
So lets take a survey of our lives right now. Do you always leave room for hope? If not, how can you begin to create space in your life for hope? Do you have someone in your life that can act as an agent of hope on your behalf? If not, how can you actively begin to seek out someone who can act as an agent of hope on your behalf?
Prayer:
Lord, thank you for providing a way out of no way. Thank you for always being my hope. Thank you for sending agents of hope into my life in the midst of my dark storms. Lord, please show me when and how to be an agent of hope to others. In Jesus name I pray Amen…
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