BETWEEN three and four thousand years ago, far away in the land of Egypt, lived a wicked king. His name was Pharaoh. A great many of God’s people, the Israelites, lived in his land and because he was afraid they would become too many and too powerful, he ordered all their baby boys to be killed.
There was one little boy whose mother kept him hidden till he was three months old. Then she made a little cradle of strong, heavy grass and put slime and pitch on it so the water could not leak through. She put the baby in this cradle and laid it in among the flags at the edge of the river. His sister watched from a distance to see what would happen.
After a while King Pharaoh’s daughter with her maidens came down to the river and passing that way saw the cradle of grass—or the “ark of bulrushes,” as it is called in Exodus 2. One of her maidens brought it to her and she opened it. When she saw the little baby and how it cried, she felt sorry for it.
Then his sister came up and offered to get someone to take care of the little one. Pharaoh’s daughter was willing and the girl called the babe’s own mother.
When the little boy grew older, his mother brought him back to Pharaoh’s daughter and she gave him a name. Many of you know that his name was Moses.
But do you know why God took care of him and would not let Pharaoh kill him as he did the other children? God had a great work for Moses to do and would not, for this reason, let any harm come to him. God wanted him to lead the children of Israel out of the land of this wicked Pharaoh and no one can hinder God’s purposes. When He was taking care of Moses Pharaoh could not touch him.
In the beautiful picture we have today the two dear children are near the water. They might easily run over and fall in if their mother was not near to watch them. But she will not let any harm come to them. She wishes to keep them from danger because she loves them. And she is able to keep them from danger because she is stronger than they.
Many dangers surround us, dear reader. But God is always near and round about us and will not let anything harm us against His will. We may go into dangerous places but He leads us safely through. Others may try to get us into trouble but they are powerless to harm us when God is on our side. “IF GOD BE FOR US, WHO CAN BE AGAINST US?” Romans 8:3131What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us? (Romans 8:31).
We can thank Him for all His care over us in the past and trust Him to protect us until Jesus comes.
Let us not forget to ask Him daily to preserve us from all the sin and danger around us.
Whate’er befall, He guards us still—
No foe can harm against His will.
We oft may hear the devil’s roar
And feel the danger more and more.
But He who guards will ever keep
And never slumber, though we sleep.
The Savior, Jesus, is gone to prepare,
Such a beautiful home in the sky,
And He says He will come,
And take to that home,
Every sinner that’s born from on high.
I’d like to go to that heaven so bright,
For joy beams, in that world, on each
face,
But if there I would go,
On earth I must know,
As my Saviour, the Lord of that place.
ML 05/01/1904