Into and Out of Trouble

The midwives, however, feared God and did not do what the king of Egypt had told them to do … So God was kind to the midwives and the people increased … and because the midwives feared God, he gave them families of their own (Exodus 1:17, 20-21).

The fear of the LORD gets us into trouble, and out of trouble, too.

To “fear the LORD” means to keep the LORD always at the center of your field of vision.  It means to turn towards God, to “lean into” God and God’s ways, despite all the pressures to do otherwise.  It means to always be oriented to what God is doing in your situation rather than seeking to control or escape from the circumstances.  It means to respond faithfully to God and God’s Word, first, last, always.

Because Shiphrah and Puah feared the LORD, they got into trouble: Pharaoh orders them to kill every baby boy born to a Hebrew mother, an order they know they cannot obey.  So they simply don’t comply.

As I read between the lines, it’s clear to me that the midwives don’t make a public issue of their intention to disobey Pharaoh’s order.  Rather than taking matters into their own hands, they “make room” for God to help and rescue them.  When the Egyptian king realizes that there are still little Hebrew boys everywhere, Shiphrah and Puah respond honestly, with perhaps a subtle dig at the Egyptians: “O King, these Hebrew mothers aren’t like your (weak and coddled) Egyptian mothers: the Hebrew moms are so strong and vigorous, they go into labor and pop the kid out before we can get to them!”

(I wonder if Shiphrah and Puah were able to time their visits to Hebrew moms-in-labor … or to surreptitiously train others to serve as unofficial midwives … or responded with what might be seen as a “noble lie,” akin to working on the “underground railway” in the American South during the 1850s and ‘60s, or to not leading the Gestapo to the Jews you have hidden in your house in occupied Europe during the 1940s).

The fear of God will make us stick out like a sore thumb in whatever culture God places us.  To fear the Lord will sometimes provide a way of escape, and sometimes lead us on the path of a martyrdom of some kind (loss of friends, job, reputation, or even life).  But the fear of the LORD is not oriented to the immediate “results” or outcomes for me; it is oriented to the world’s true King, and living in ways that faithfully represent who God is and the ways in which God ‘s kingdom comes and his will is done, on earth as it is in heaven.

To fear the LORD is to move “towards” Jesus in every situation and circumstance, to steer our way according to who he is and what he has told us to be and to do.  What are the times and situations where you are tempted to move “away”?  What strengthens and encourages you to move “towards”?

If you’d like to read or re-read the overview/summary of this week’s passage, you can find it here.

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