God uses People

Exodus 2:3-6 -  And when she could hide him no longer she took for him a basket made of bulrushes, and daubed it with bitumen and pitch; and she put the child in it and placed it among the reeds at the river's brink.  And his sister stood at a distance, to know what would be done to him.  Now the daughter of Pharaoh came down to bathe at the river, and her maidens walked beside the river; she saw the basket among the reeds and sent her maid to fetch it.  When she opened it she saw the child; and lo, the babe was crying. She took pity on him and said, "This is one of the Hebrews' children." 

Sometimes God uses people to work his purpose on the Earth.  He used a mother’s love… …the courage and quick thinking of a sister…and the barren heart of Pharaoh’s daughter…to weld a great plan of deliverance for his people. He gave this mother the rich knowledge to outwit the Pharaoh’s plan by placing her baby in a floating basket…before she threw him in the river.  He gave a curious sister….just enough courage to approach the princess and the quick thinking to go get his own mother to nurse him.  And God used the most unlikely character in this story….simply because she had compassion…and just happen to bathe where the boat had been hidden.

And just as God used this trio of women to save his chosen servant Moses…he uses the people around us to save us too.  I remember a day when my heart was broken….when I realized my first marriage of 30 years was over…and I had nowhere to go….and a sweet friend took me and my granddaughter in for a weekend.  Then he used another sweet co-worker to bless me with a permanent place to live…..complete with dishes…..furniture….linens…the home of her mom and dad….who had passed away not 8 months before. Then God used my own son and the sweet relationship he had with a most precious girl…to have me visit the church I attend now.   A plan my distress at the time surely blinded me from seeing…but I see clearly now as the way God provided for me in my pain.

I did not deserve any of those gifts from God. I had been steeped in bitterness and hypocrisy for several years…because I had lost a job…and felt it was unfair. I was angry at God….and had stopped going to church….stopped reading my bible….and only talked to him to ask why he had let such an unfair thing happen. But now I see some of the pieces of the puzzle he was putting together to train me…to teach me to depend on him…to learn to forgive….to seek him once more…and learn to love him more than anything else.

It may be a few more years before he reveals the rest of the puzzle to me….but just as Moses mother placed him in a basket…I have placed my life in God’s control.  And like this sister….he has given me new courage and strength…to discern his wisdom from the great Bible each evening and morning when I sit to speak with him. He is my prince….who rescued me from a certain death…and gave me salvation.  And some day I will reside with him forever in a great palace called Heaven.  Oh the joy of knowing that my life is in his hands….and he will always be working a great plan to prosper and save me from myself!

Father…no human words exist that adequately  tell you how thankful I am that you saved me. I sit in your presence and  marvel each evening and morning that you could even love a sinner like me. But you always go beyond mere love…and chase after me…and provide for me…and carry me through storm after storm. Thank you for teaching me that you are working on a greater plan than I can see from my desk….than I can see from my humble classroom. And thank you Lord for the glimpses of the future…just enough to give me hope and know that you are holding my hand and training me to do a great work for you. Amen.