Text: Exodus 1:22-2:10; Matthew 16:25; Acts 7:22
Prop: a poster of baby Moses or a cardboard box labeled “lost and found” with several items in it
Summary: Moses was rescued and reared by Pharaoh’s daughter. God seeks to find the lost.
This box from the school office has a few items in it that were lost and found. Here is a sweater. I wonder if the boy who lost it tried to find it once he realized it was missing? Here is a math book. Maybe that was lost on purpose! I don’t see any really expensive items in this box. I suppose when something really nice is found a person might be tempted to keep it, even though it belongs to someone else. Could you imagine what would happen if a baby was lost? Today I want to tell you about the baby Moses and how he was lost and found.
The ruler of Egypt, the Pharaoh, feared that the Hebrews were growing in power because they were growing in number. The ruler decided that he would not let the males (boys) live when they were born. They were to be thrown in the river (to drown). What a horrible thing to do! (Read Exodus 1:22-2:4.)
Moses’ parents were from the tribe of Levi. The Levites were priests. Moses’ mother hid her baby until he was three months old. Then she knew the only way to save him was to “lose” him. So she made a basket of papyrus (pronounced puh-PIE-russ) branches, covered it with tar so it would not sink, and placed him inside it. Then she placed the basket among the reeds in the Nile River. She told his older sister Miriam to watch the basket to see what happened. In this simple act of faith she trusted God to care for her infant son.
(Read Exodus 2:5-10.) Moses was not lost very long. About this time the daughter of Pharaoh came out to bathe. She saw the basket and told her maids to get it. When she heard the baby cry she had pity and decided to adopt him. She named him Moses because he was drawn from the water. Miriam suggested that a Hebrew woman (the baby’s mother) could nurse him. One of the hardest things a mother has to do is let go of her child when he is grown. It must have been especially hard for Moses’ mother to let go of her baby (after he was weaned). The only way to save his life was to give him up to be adopted by Pharaoh’s daughter.
Our Lord Jesus calls us to let go of our own selfish wants and to serve him. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it. – Matthew 16:25 The mother was unselfish and trusted God to care for baby Moses. In doing so God was able to use the Pharaoh to rear and educate the man who would lead the Israelites from slavery to freedom later. And Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and was mighty in words and in deeds. (Acts 7:22)
Through the ages God has found the lost. He wants everyone to come to a saving faith in the Lord Jesus. Will you trust him as your Savior today? Just as Moses was lost and found in the Nile, Jesus is ready to find you where you are today.
©2002 by Jim Kerlin. All rights reserved.