Text: Exodus 2:1-22
The early life of Moses reads like the Oscar-winning screenplay it would one day become. Nicely packaged into a single chapter of Exodus, it may not seem like much at first glance. But take a closer look. Do you see Him? God is everywhere.
He is waiting in the reeds as a young mother pries open her hand and watches through tear-filled eyes as the basket slips down onto the riverbank. It is His invisible hand that brings to that same riverbank the daughter of Pharaoh himself – the very ruler who seeks to destroy this child and each male Hebrew baby like him. It is God who softens her heart to gather an abandoned slave baby into her arms and send for a woman of his own people to nurse him. And it is God’s specific and tender care that allows that nurse to be none other than his mother.
Oh, to hold the child you let go and feel with your own hands and see with your own eyes that he is alive and well. I can scarcely imagine.
This is the kind of fresh start the God of heaven gives.
A child born into slavery and under threat of death is raised in a palace and educated in the high court. The boy grows into a man, a man who sees the burden of his people and begins, almost instinctively, to fight for them well before he receives the Call.
Moses fought for them because it was who he was. It was who God made him to be.
You see, God’s redemption of Moses began long before he could prove himself worthy. It began when he was just a baby! There was no merit, no qualification; only the nearness and goodness of God. God’s plan of redemption for Moses was broad enough to span history and yet intimate enough to meet his most specific needs. It was a plan to redeem a man, a people, a world.
Sisters, the redemption God offers you is specific for today. It is offered regardless and in spite of your merit, your performance, your best laid plans. Receive it. Let’s walk in the freedom of God’s plan for our lives today.
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35 thoughts on "God redeems moses: a personal fresh start"
The amazing ways in which God's hand moves will bring even the strongest man to his knees! I have always been amazed at God's love and his power to move mountains, and to make something out of nothing. Just as God guided the heart of Pharoah's daughter, He also guides the hearts of people today. I have been enduring a long, drawn-out custody battle with my daughter's father and one day before I left to travel to another state for the proceedings, my dear brother told me to pray and ask the Lord, "God, don't meet me there, beat me there!" This is a powerful prayer because it is asking God to work on the heart of others and all things will work out according to God's will! Yes, I love the Lord!
I've been reading through the plan trying to catch up and I really just had to stop and meditate on this. I need to really let this sink into my heart because there are some places in my heart that desperately need the fresh start that only heaven can give. Does anyone else struggle with areas that tho you have faith, the dullness and lack luster bring sadness? I am desperate for the Lord to do a new thing, to meet me there on the river and make a way where there seems to be know way. I could never fix the things that need redeeming. I can never perform well enough to say "finally I have arrived." It truly is a fresh start that can only come from heaven. Jesus, Great Redeemer, I receive your fresh start with all that I am. I desire you and your ways more than I could ever express in words. Take all these other things and redeem as only you can. I long for your fresh start.
I love the emphasis y'all put on when Moses's redemption began…as an infant when he had absolutely NO POWER to "earn" it. Such a wonderful reminder that God redeems us from the very beginning. He was, he is, and he is to come. Our Lord grants us this free gift of grace and blesses us with his redeeming power; we are who we are because of what He did!
Wow, Amanda. What can one add to that? How beautiful and eloquent and a fresh word for such a time as this! Blessed to be a part of such a beautiful community of women who hear from God and get right to the heart of the matter!
Thank you, Lord, that although we are born into sin, we can be born again out of it – and that we could never earn our rebirth. It's all for your glory that my story reads the way it does – just as Moses' story of being delivered from certain death in the Nile River as a babe to ultimately delivering his people from certain death at the Red Sea is such a beautiful interweaving of the most unlikely of circumstances.
I am praying for a fresh start for my daughter as she is getting married tomorrow! This will be a big year for her as she is also having a baby that is due in July.
A new baby, a new life, a fresh start.
I pray God's blessings on her and her new family.
Lord today I pray You would help us to see who it is You’ve made us to be and receive the plans You hold for us. Thank You for Your redemptive plans for us that have nothing to do with our merit. All glory Him in the highest!
Andrea, you made me curious. Jochebed was the birth mother of Moses. When i was looking this up, there was a notation by her name. Jochebed means "The Lord Is Glory". I loved this! From the very beginnig, our Lord's glory was around Moses! It just fits so well into today's devotional.
So good, I feel so warmly wrapped up in that promise that God has us, holds us and will provide for us in ways that we could never imagine. The part about Moses’ story that always always gets me without fail is that his own Mother gets to raise him. I often see it as BECAUSE she lets him go, and relinquishes control of the situation to God. Which reminds me of the beauty that has come from my own letting go.
Valanne,
I’m sorry for asking you this but, Zipporah was Moses’ wife so how does she tie in to this because I didn’t find much information about her? Thank you.
I think Valanne actually meant to refer to Moses' mother. I think her name was Jochebed?
It feels good to know that although I have not been able to see a full redemption of my life circumstances, Christ will one day make me look back here and say "Oh! I understand why. My God has done a GREAT thing!" God is always good, is always faithful. Thank you, Lord! For creating newness out of everything we go through!
They said, “An Egyptian delivered us out of the hand of the shepherds and even drew water for us and watered the flock.” (vs 19)
this sounds A LOT like what Moses would end up doing with all the Israelites: delivering them from the hand of the Israelites, drawing water for them and watering his flock (leading them and giving them all God wanted to give them). Isn't it beautiful, the way God has us doing what is our purpose in smaller, more insignificant ways? Throughout the years I always counseled my friends and helped them through a lot of real-life, traumatic stuff– even being a witness for one in court when she was a victim. God's called me to be an advocate and counselor for children in domestic abuse/foster care, and all along, He's been making it known! I'm sitting in the awe of God's redemption plans for me today.
Blessings, sisters! May you see how God has redeemed you, and may it fill you with joy for the redemption plans to come!
In some ways this devotional is for every woman who has surrendered a child, trusting God or fate or whatever that her empty arms would give her child Life she could not give. It is also for the empty arms who accepted the filling that child provided offering self and family to raise the child…to give Life. But mostly it is for all of us who from birth have a God who loves us no matter what our family life, our circumstances, our sins, bring our way and HE has a plan for us and that plan is for our good.
"There was no merit, no qualification; only the nearness and goodness of God."
God is near and God is surely good! In this doubtful society where people often assume the worst, where our minds are bathed in poor media from all directions: God is still near! This makes me want to be a light for Him even more and to share the good news that He is a good God who is never far away. I will be binding those words to my heart today. Have a wonderful day ladies!
Moses is a foreshadowing of Christ here. While Moses was born into captivity nd rescued so he could one day grow and lead his people to freedom from their oppressors, Christ was all powerful, but chose to enter the bondage of being a man, so that He could grow and one day lead ALL people to freedom from captivity. Beautiful how all scripture points us to Christ!
So many excuses today to not do what God has called us to do, especially that we aren’t qualified. I love how you put it: There was no merit, no qualification; only the nearness and goodness of God. My prayer is that I would cling to that and go boldly into the path He has called me! Thanks for sharing this.
"He is waiting in the reeds as a young mother pries open her hand and watches through tear-filled eyes as the basket slips down onto the riverbank."
She was waiting
She did not try to usurp God's plan
I do not know what God has for me in 2014, but no matter how hard — even if excruciating, may I trust the Lord like Zipporah did.
Ignore the first post Kindle wouldn't log me in again.
"He is waiting in the reeds as a young mother pries open her hand and watches through tear-filled eyes as the basket slips down onto the riverbank."
She was waiting
She did not try to usurp God's plan
I do not know what God has for me in 2014, but no matter how hard — even if excruciating, may I trust the Lord like Zipporah did.
"She did not try to usurp God's plan" – love that! Such a hard thing to trust that His plan is better than any we would make, but so so so worth it!
Saved from death – left in a basket – rescued from the water – nursed by his mother – raised by a king ….A throw away child saves a nation.
V.2 says she saw that he was special. That's how God sees me! He wants to do everything to protect me and give me the best. Sometimes bad things happen, but He sees the bigger picture and has us in His hands! I have to trust Him and know His ways are higher than mine. I needed to hear this today. He loves me and thinks I'm special!
I KNOW I am redeemed! Praise God! I also know there is nothing HAVE to do to stay in His care. I want to though. Because I am grateful, thankful, joyful in His redemption. But what my heart and spirit want to do for God is at war with what my flesh and the world wants to do for itself. I commiserate with Paul
You see, God’s redemption of ME began long before I could prove MYSELF worthy. It began when I was just a baby! There was no merit, no qualification; only the nearness and goodness of God. God’s plan of redemption for ME was broad enough to span history and yet intimate enough to meet MY most specific needs.
Wow! What a powerful message! God has done this for each and everyone of us! Let's walk out our destiny.
This one hits home with me in very personal way…..when i was just a baby, God took me from my birth mother's arms and placed me in the arms of my momma and daddy…..my life journey was forever changed at that moment. He placed me in the arms of parents who had prayed so hard for me to come into their lives – who promised Him if a He would bring a baby into their lives that they would bring that baby up to love and adore Him. True to their word, I am HIS today because those two precious Christians raised me to love the Lord with all my heart…..I am so very thankful this day for His mighty hand in my life at just 1/2 a day old…..over 61 years ago, changing my life course in a heartbeat. I am thankful too to the 16 year old girl who gave birth to me….who loved me enough to let me go. We are His masterpiece – and are lives are woven by His mighty hands….how can we help but try our best to honor Him with every moment of our lives. Jeremiah 29:11
God used one man, Moses, to redeem a nation. He had a plan then. He has a plan now. As his children we can trust His plan for today, for now. Only trust. He can save us now!
Do you see Him? God is everywhere. Praying that we all, especially me, in the rush of today, will find God in the very small. Praise His name!!
This is my prayer today too! I know when in the past I have prayed to see His beauty, He showed me in every single thing I looked at.
Be blessed, have a wonderful day!
But God… That is all I can think to say about this one.
Then I want to put on my shouting shoes!
Have a blessed day Ladies!
I love today's message. Media likes to only focus on all the negative happening in the world but all you have to do is look for good. God is everywhere, in simple things and of course in extrodinary things as well. He is everywhere! I feel so blessed to know he is with me always.
I completely agree. I always try my hardest to see the beauty and now dwell on the negative that we are constantly bombarded with. It's those beautiful moments, that can be as simple as someone opening a door for me, or just the sun shining, that I am reminded of God's love.
"God's plan of redemption for Moses was broad enough to span history yet intimate enough to meet his most specific needs." LOVE this! And His redemption plan for me is just as intimate – and broad – as Moses's. Wow.
This one really struck me strong. It's so hard in our world where everything is received by Ameritech to remember the very thing that defines us, the most Imporatant thing in our lives is simply not because on it.
Here I am LORD, use me. ….
Thank you Lord for this new day, this new day that is full of You and Your goodness , Grace Love, faithfulness…. here I am… walk with me.. hold my hand and lead me, guide me ,show me help me to walk as you would have me walk, in Your love , light and redemption. You know the plans You have for me….
Here I am LORD….
Happy Friday my beautiful sister's. God bless your day. X
Amen and amen!
His hand, His ultimate sovereignty even when it appears in our mere human eyes to be so far from it. An abandoned baby out of pure selfless love and the story begins.. Thank you for these insights and bread to start the day.