Refusing and Choosing
July 5, 2022
It was by faith that Moses, when he grew up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter. He chose to share the oppression of God’s people instead of enjoying the fleeting pleasures of sin. He thought it was better to suffer for the sake of Christ than to own the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking ahead to his great reward. Hebrews 11:24-26 NLT
The story of Moses is famous and familiar. Born to Jewish parents in Egypt, his start was poverty, slavery, and likely death. The Pharoah was afraid that the strength of the nation he had enslaved would grow to rebellion capability, so he was proactively killing all the male boys at birth. Moses’s courageous parents hid him in the daylight hours so he could not be found, sometimes in the tall bullrushes around the Nile River. Who would ever think to look there?
One day his sister Miriam was watching him from a short distance as the swishing water lulled him in his little basket boat. Startled, she saw Egyptian ladies coming and soon discovered it was the princess and her entourage. The Pharoah’s daughter had come to take a bath in that very spot! Of course, discovery of the baby in the bushes was inevitable. The cooing child instantly won her heart, and she declared, “My father will not destroy this one. He is mine.” She loved him and gathered him up to take him home to raise.
Young Miriam heard it all and in a burst of supernatural wisdom asked if the princess needed a nanny who would be able to nurse and care for him, a detail that would not likely have yet occurred in the princess’s excitement and compassion. Moses’s very own mother became his nanny and primary caregiver. For all his growing up years, she was able to operate undercover and train him in the ways of God simultaneously with the Pharoah’s educational and military training.
Fast forward to adulthood. Moses had the same choice we all have when we become mature enough to understand. We must choose the identity we will bear. We have to decide whose son or daughter we are. Moses realized that initially there is a cost to choosing our true identity because the immediate gratification of choosing less than our DNA and heritage can be heady and enticing. But he heard the voice of the Spirit deep within him and he chose well. He knew whatever the sacrifices were in the moment, the reward of living true to who he really was and being the son of his true Father was more than enough reward.
- The world around you wants to claim you as its own. But you have a Father. The best Father. Your identity in Him is what makes you capable and fulfilled. True significance and success will never come through any other connection. What can you do today to cement your decision? Express your love and appreciation to your magnificent Father for the joy of being His child.