God's Humor

The situation was certainly not humorous to the people going through it and I don't mean to make light of the trials and tribulations these biblical people faced or that we often face today but sometimes I think God must chuckle as people try to thwart His plans.

In the days of Moses, the Israelites were under intense persecution. The Egyptians had instructed the Hebrew midwives to kill all the boy babies but they managed not to do that. I can imagine God chuckling at this order by the king of Egypt and thinking to Himself something like you think you are so powerful, Pharaoh, but these midwives of Mine have a power you can't imagine!

The midwives told the Egyptians the Hebrew women were much stronger than the Egyptian women and claimed the babies were born before they ever got to the women to help with the delivery. This must have been believable because the midwives were not punished or killed by the Egyptians and were blessed by God with families of their own for their faithfulness. (Exodus 1:15-21)

When this didn't work to kill off the Hebrew boys, Pharaoh commanded the Egyptians to drown the Hebrew boy babies. (Exodus1:22) I can imagine again God chuckling at Pharaoh and thinking not only are you not going to kill all the boys, the one who will rescue my people will be raised in your house!

So Moses is born. His mom kept him hidden and alive for three months. Then she put him in a basket in the river only to be found by Pharaoh's daughter who claims the child as her own. The best part of this story to me is Moses' mom gets hired by Pharaoh's daughter to nurse her own son. This gives her the opportunity to teach him about their God and to give him a Hebrew identity. This is important because when Moses later flees to Midian, he is recognized there as an Egyptian. (Exodus 2:1-21)

We often forget how powerful God is. We think laws or persecution or unbelievers or any number of things can thwart the plans of God but they can't. The evil that permeates our world is no laughing matter but we know the end of the story! We know Satan and death are defeated! We know God is in control! We must "...honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect..." (1 Peter 3:15-16a).