JOY COMES IN THE MORNING

Ex. 1 :15-22

The king spoke to the Hebrew midwives and said when you do the office of a midwife to the Hebrew women and see them upon the stools if it be a son, then you shall kill him but if it be a daughter then it shall live. This bothered the midwives for they feared God and did not do as they were told. After being questioned as to why, they said the Hebrew women deliver much faster than the Egyptian women do and are already delivered before we arrive. This caused a lot of heartache to begin. Pharaoh charged his people saying, "Every son that is born ye shall cast into the river, and every daughter you shall save alive."

For years Satan has tried to get rid of boys. He no doubt knew that a great leader was to be born and lead Israel out of bondage and he would do every thing he could to stop him. Oh, the folly of sin, when a person is to be born to lead God's people no one is to stop him. God even used Pharaoh's daughter to help raise the future leader of Israel. What about the sin that Pharaoh wanted the midwives to do? It no doubt was felt very wrong by the midwives to take a child's life for they feared God and would not do it. Does this say anything to us today? Is it wrong to take the life of a young helpless child? Should not our midwives and doctors and mothers and fathers feel it wrong as the people of old? The midwives were blessed by doing right.

Someone asked in a cartoon drawing, "God, why have you not sent one to find a cure for aids and these other dreaded diseases?" The reply was, "I did send someone and you aborted him." Someone once asked, "Where is the most dangerous place on earth to live?" The answer was, "In the womb of a mother."

Galatians 3:24 tells us the Law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith. There is no doubt that we can learn from examples of what happened to those of old. As a nation, where are we going today? If you only see the heartaches of the day we are people most miserable. Over 15,000 people were killed in America by gun shot in one year. If we saw that many killed in war we would cry out bring our people home, but here in our cities we have homeless people by the thousands, we have people being destroyed by drugs and strong drink and many times we say nothing about it.

I believe we have some people like the midwives, they fear God more than they do Pharaoh. Many today see the conditions of the world and build a strong defense around their homes. They are teaching their children the ways of righteousness. They know what is right and wrong and have enough backbone to say to the world there are some absolutes in life and we are going to stand for them. Psalms 30:5 tells us, "Weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning." Are you having some trials? All of us do, lift up your head, redemption is on its way.