04 Jul One Deadly Choice
We… or rather the country we had been taken to got a new king. He was not anything like his father. He (his father) had given us some hope and bettered our lives. We were even almost sure of his love for us because he was very easy on us, but all of that is changing, and horribly so. We heard from the men that the new king was afraid we were too many and too mighty for him and his people. He wanted them to deal shrewdly with us lest we multiply some more and join with their enemies to fight against them incase of war and perhaps escape.
He increased our tasks, afflicted us heavily, and reduced us to severe slavery. He made our lives bitter with hard service in mortar, brick and all kinds of work in the field; everything was with harshness and severity. But to their chagrin, the more they oppressed us; the more we increased and expanded.
The king one day called for Shiprah and I as head midwives of our people, instructing us with the following words:
“When you act as midwives to the Hebrew women and see them on the birth stool, if it is a son, you shall kill him; but if a daughter, she shall live.”
“Puah!” Shiprah exclaimed in alarm after we left “We cannot do that!”
I agreed with her and told her that we cannot kill any baby, be it male or female. You see, we have a God, the only true and living God; Yaweh is His name. He is The God of our Fathers Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and He will not permit us to snuff the life out of innocent babies. He has commanded us not to kill, we love Him too much to disobey Him and we were not ready to bring His wrath upon us. So we let the male babies live.
When the king called for us and asked why we allowed them to live in with our hearts beating but with deep resolve our reply was:
“The Hebrew women are not like the Egyptian women; they are vigorous and quickly delivered; their babies are born before the midwife comes to them.” And that was no lie at all!
It was a very tough call for us, we stood the risk of being killed by this wicked king but we took the risk. And for that God honoured us and blessed us with our own families because we feared and obeyed Him. Hallelujah!
…We must rather obey God than men. Acts 5:29 (AMP)
Have you ever been at a cross road, where you have to make the choice between obeying man and obeying God? How did you handle it?
Culled from the story of the mid wives, Pharaoh and the Israelites as recorded in Exodus 1: 8-21
© 2013 ugochi-jolomi.com
Sharing With: Thursday Favourite Things
unyime-ivy king
Posted at 01:44h, 19 AugustWhen it comes to a choice between obeying God or man, we must always opt to obey God, although the choice is not always an easy one to make.
Ugochi
Posted at 13:45h, 20 AugustNot easy at all, but a must if we must be victorious!
Esther Onimisi
Posted at 13:58h, 05 JulyGod alone calls the shot.
Ugochi
Posted at 14:05h, 06 JulyYes He does!
Mothering From Scratch
Posted at 13:45h, 05 July{Melinda} The first thing that came to mind was when my son with cystic fibrosis was 18 months old. He was having a terrible time gaining weight. He was so skinny. His doctor wanted to put in a feeding tube. But immediately, I felt like God said, NO. So I refused. The doctor was not happy. He thought I was not acting in Micah’s best interest. And he told me so. Yet, I knew if God said, NO, He had a plan. I was to go back to the doctor in 6 weeks. I prayed and had so many others praying and I tried to feed Micah the highest calorie concoctions I could dream up. When we returned in 6 weeks, Micah had gained 3 1/2 pounds, after only gaining a few ounces at his previous visit. Thought-provoking post … as the days get more dark here, we may find ourselves having to face this dilemma in ways we never dreamed.
Ugochi
Posted at 14:09h, 06 JulyWow!!! It ALWAYS pays to give attention to God above all others. A great risk it always seems, but guaranteed!
Praise God Melinda, this is a great testimony, thanks for sharing here.
Have a super blessed weekend!
Love