CONFIDENT SERIES Week 8 Introduction: We’ve been finding daily encouragement from God in his word and growing in our confidence in him. This week we continue to look at the lives of the Old Testament men and women of faith…seeing how they come to trust God and what that trust looks like. Their lives encourage us to walk in trust through all the details of our lives. In the coming days, we see the story of Miriam, Moses’ sister; we look at David once again; Solomon, David’s son; Hosea, one of God’s prophets; and Hezekiah, another of the great kings of Judah. Let’s dig in together… Monday, May 11 - Morning Exodus 2:1-5 Now a man of the tribe of Levi married a Levite woman, 2 and she became pregnant and gave birth to a son. When she saw that he was a fine child, she hid him for three months. 3 But when she could hide him no longer, she got a papyrus basket for him and coated it with tar and pitch. Then she placed the child in it and put it among the reeds along the bank of the Nile. 4 His sister stood at a distance to see what would happen to him. 5 Then Pharaoh’s daughter went down to the Nile to bathe, and her attendants were walking along the riverbank. She saw the basket among the reeds and sent her female slave to get it. Comments: Some childhood memories stay with us for a lifetime. Maybe you remember, from the time you were a child, adults whispering in their conversations. You only heard bits and pieces from their conversation. It was an adult world, and you only had bits and pieces. Perhaps something important was happening that would shape your family for years to come. The first mention of Miriam, the sister of Moses, comes from this desperate and frightening scene. Miriam’s mother, Jochebed was her name, gave birth to a boy. During this time in Egypt, the Hebrew population had grown so large that the Egyptian Pharaoh began to see them as a threat. He commanded that the Hebrew boys be killed after they were born and their bodies be thrown into the Nile. But when Jochebed gave birth to her baby boy, she hid and protected him as long as she could. As time passed, she could no longer do that. She decided to send her baby boy down the river in a basket hoping that he would be rescued by someone that would want him, that would take care of him and raise him. Jochebed’s efforts were rewarded. A daughter of Pharaoh found her precious little boy. Now here’s the thing: Miriam watched the story unfold. Can you imagine watching your little brother pushed out into the currents of the Nile? Can you imagine trusting God’s purposes in such a desperate moment? This is no doubt where Miriam’s faith, in part, was born. Jochebed left, but Miriam stayed along the river bank and saw the one that snatched up that little baby given the name Moses. What moments early in your life have help you grow to trust in the Lord? Let’s pray: Lord God Almighty, remind me that you control all things; the currents of the rivers of our lives flow at your command. Build trust in my life as I look to you. Provide me, I pray, your peace and grace this day. In the name of Jesus, I pray. Amen. Application: 1. What experiences from your childhood have most shaped your faith? What happened, and how do you interpret these moments today? 2. Where was Miriam as her brother was placed into a basket and into the Nile? How do you imagine she experienced this? How do you think it might have impacted her faith? 3. What desperate moments of trust have you had in your life? What happened and what did you do? 4. Growing up, what adults most instilled faith in you? How did they/he/she do that? Monday, May 11 - Midday Exodus 15:19-21 19 When Pharaoh’s horses, chariots and horsemen went into the sea, the Lord brought the waters of the sea back over them, but the Israelites walked through the sea on dry ground. 20 Then Miriam the prophet, Aaron’s sister, took a timbrel in her hand, and all the women followed her, with timbrels and dancing. 21 Miriam sang to them: “Sing to the Lord for he is highly exalted. Both horse and driver he has hurled into the sea.” Comments: We pick up the story of Miriam, the sister of Moses. This event comes immediately after the miracle crossing of the Red Sea by the people of Israel. Imagine the relief of the people. At one point, they were backed up against the sea by the army of Pharaoh. They were refugees with no army, no weapons, and what must have seemed like no hope. But the Lord intervened for his people and divided the sea so that his people could cross over to the other side on dry land. The Lord did it all. The people did nothing but trust the Lord. Once on the other side, Moses and the people broke out into worship. We are told that Miriam led the way for the women to sing and dance before the Lord. This was no planned worship service; it was spontaneous joy. Here we see the heart of Miriam. She knows God’s salvation and experienced it. How can she not celebrate? There is such freedom found in living faith. We see that on display. There is no bowing to social convention, no question of propriety. She does not worry what people will think. There is only worship. What kind of faith does this? Let’s pray: Lord God, thank you for the freedom and joy of worship. Your grace gives us a reason to vent our praise and to enjoy what you have done even more. Thank you for saving your people. Lord, we worship you and acknowledge your goodness. Thank you for your faithful care and your loving-kindness. For we pray in your name. Amen. Application: 1. Why does Miriam break forth in praise? What does her worship reveal to us about her faith in God? 2. How does enjoyment of God serve to reinforce faith? How do faith and worship serve to strengthen each other? How have you seen this in your life? 3. This is an amazing story. How did the Lord save his people? What is amazing about your redemption story? How does this continue to influence you to this day? Monday, May 11 - Evening Numbers 12:10-15 When the cloud lifted from above the tent, Miriam’s skin was leprous—it became as white as snow. Aaron turned toward her and saw that she had a defiling skin disease, 11 and he said to Moses, “Please, my lord, I ask you not to hold against us the sin we have so foolishly committed. 12 Do not let her be like a stillborn infant coming from its mother’s womb with its flesh half eaten away.” 13 So Moses cried out to the Lord, “Please, God, heal her!” 14 The Lord replied to Moses, “If her father had spit in her face, would she not have been in disgrace for seven days? Confine her outside the camp for seven days; after that she can be brought back.” 15 So Miriam was confined outside the camp for seven days, and the people did not move on till she was brought back. Comments: Families are complex relational systems. Miriam’s family was no exception. At the time of the Exodus, Miriam’s two brothers became the two most important leaders of Israel. God chose Moses to lead the charge to liberate the people from bondage in Egypt. Moses stuttered, so God appointed Aaron to become the spokesman for the new movement. Moses and Aaron could not have been more different as brothers. Moses was introverted, but steady and faith-filled. Aaron was outgoing and gregarious, willing to do what was needed to get the approval of the crowd. Moses was the leader, but Aaron began the official priesthood. God wanted Moses because of his faithfulness and his humility. Moses sought the Lord and listened to the Lord. The result of their family conflict was an attempt to steal power from Moses. Miriam got the ball rolling and took the lead because Moses had married an African woman, an Ethiopian, someone not from among their people. This must have seemed like betrayal to Miriam. So, Miriam used her concern to gain Aaron’s support to take power from Moses. The Lord knew about this and became the defender of his servant Moses. The end result for Miriam was frightening and revealing. She became leprous, sick without hope of recovery. This was a sign of what this sort of division can do to a family and to a nation. But true to his character, Moses pleaded his sister’s cause and asked God to spare her life. This scene reveals God’s wisdom in choosing Moses to lead the people. What can we learn from Miriam here? Faith means trusting God when our family of origin is broken, when birth order creates competition and conflict. God chose Moses, though the youngest in his family, to demonstrate his grace and his ways. Miriam, for her part, learned to trust the ways of the Lord even when they didn’t make sense to her.