Day 46 – The Midwives’ Dilemma

• Welcome to the book of Exodus. We’re into an exciting new story today. The first few verses of Exodus do a great job with summarising the end of Genesis and setting up the stage on which we’ll see the next chapter of God’s great salvation plan.
• Many years have passed since Jacob blessed Joseph’s sons, when things looked rosy in the glow of the harmony between Joseph’s family and the Pharaoh. Indeed – about 400 years have now passed, and Jacob’s twelve sons, and many generations following, have long since died. Their descendants, however, are very numerous indeed, and they are still living in the area around Egypt.
• What was the concern of the new Pharaoh? How had the attitude of the Egyptian leaders changed towards the Israelite people in the 400 years that have passed? Why?
• What did the Egyptians do to try and suppress the Israelites?
• What horrible law was passed by the king in Esodus 1:15? Why do you think the Egyptian leaders made the law to allow girls to live but required the boys to die?
• Midwives are women who help other women to give birth. How did they disobey the order from the Pharaoh? Was God happy at their “disobedience”?
• The subtitle of today’s title asks whether it is ever right to disobey what the Government says. As Christians, we desire to live lawful and obedient lives, but can you think of a situation where “disobedience” like this might be justified? What would have to be the reason?
• Acts, as you may know, is a book about the early church just after Jesus returned to Heaven. In the passages in Acts, we see these early followers of Christ stand up for His Word ahead of the authorities wishes. What sort of things did they say?
• Do you think you would be willing to suffer in order to put Jesus first in your life? Knowing Jesus’ love for you is amazing, but are you prepared for the reactions you might get for standing up for Him? What about at school, or at home, or with your friends on a Saturday night?
• Below, I’ve posted a video that you might have seen – the first part of the Prince of Egypt. Watch the first three minutes or so, as I think it will help to give you a bit of a picture of what life was like for the Israelite people. You might like to think what these people might have been thinking about God at this time. 400 years is a very long time (if you go back 400 years ago from now you’ll be in Shakespearian times!), and the bible has no record of what God did during this time. The people will have talked to each other of the long-promised salvation that was promised to their “Father Abraham”, and would have perhaps wondered if it were ever to come true…

We’re lucky enough to live in a country that protects Christian freedom, but that may change – you might already think of news stories that show that’s slowly happening.

If you got baptised last year, you stood up publicly and confirmed that you love and follow Jesus and that you declare Him to be your King, your Saviour and God’s Son. Were these just words you said, or did they change your life? Is Jesus number One in your life, even when the going gets tough?

I pray that there will never have to be a time in your life when you need to have anything like the decisions that the midwives had to make in today’s readings, but it is also my prayer that in all things you say and do throughout your life that they would be done to honour God before they honour man. That’s a decision that you may have to make on an almost daily basis. If you think that this is something that you find hard, do share it with me, Mel or Chris and we can spend some time praying about it.