Exodus 2:1-6: a reflection

1A man of the house of Levi went and took a daughter of Levi as his wife. 2The woman conceived and bore a son. When she saw that he was a fine child, she hid him three months. 3When she could no longer hide him, she took a papyrus basket for him, and coated it with tar and with pitch. She put the child in it, and laid it in the reeds by the river’s bank. 4His sister stood far off, to see what would be done to him. 5Pharaoh’s daughter came down to bathe at the river. Her maidens walked along by the riverside. She saw the basket among the reeds, and sent her servant to get it. 6She opened it, and saw the child, and behold, the baby cried. She had compassion on him, and said, “This is one of the Hebrews’ children.”

At a time when the king of Egypt has ordered every Hebrew baby boy killed, one mother refuses to give up her son. She hides him for three months; then, when she can hide him no longer, she places him in a waterproofed basket among the reeds by the river, while his sister watches from a distance. And there Pharaoh's own daughter finds him, is moved with compassion, and takes him as her own. Through a mother's faith, a sister's watching, and a princess's compassion, the child Moses is preserved, the very deliverer God would use.

Notice how God preserved Moses: through small, ordinary acts of courage and compassion. There was no dramatic miracle, no thunderbolt; there was a mother's quiet, risky faith in hiding and then entrusting her child, a sister's watchful care, a princess's tender compassion. God wove these small human acts together to preserve the deliverer, working his great purpose through ordinary deeds of faith and mercy, even under a death decree.

That is how God often works: weaving his great purposes through the small, ordinary acts of ordinary people. We may think our small acts of faith and compassion count for little; but God takes such small deeds, a risk of faith here, an act of mercy there, and weaves them into purposes far larger than we can see. Do not despise your small acts of faith and compassion, as though they were too small to matter. God used a mother's hidden faith and a princess's compassion to preserve a deliverer; he can weave your small deeds of faith and mercy into his larger purposes too. Be faithful in the small acts God sets before you, trusting that he weaves even these into a purpose greater than you can see.

Lord, at a time when Hebrew baby boys were being killed, you preserved the child Moses through small, ordinary acts: a mother's risky faith in hiding and entrusting her child, a sister's watchful care, a princess's tender compassion; through these you preserved the deliverer, working your great purpose under a death decree. Thank you that this is how you often work, weaving your great purposes through the small, ordinary acts of ordinary people. I may think my small acts of faith and compassion count for little; but you take such small deeds and weave them into purposes far larger than I can see. Keep me from despising my small acts of faith and compassion, as though they were too small to matter. You used a mother's hidden faith and a princess's compassion to preserve a deliverer; weave my small deeds of faith and mercy into your larger purposes too. Help me be faithful in the small acts you set before me, trusting that you weave even these into a purpose greater than I can see.