Among the Reeds

“The woman became pregnant and gave birth to a son. She saw that he was a special baby and kept him hidden for three months. 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.” Exodus 2:2-3

One of the things that I most love about writing these devotionals are the messages and comments that people share. Yesterday I was blessed by the comments made throughout the day. This morning when I arose there were a few I had not seen. I was reminded by a precious woman about the story of Moses and his birth. It was the basis for her decision to finally entrust her child with God by fully surrendering him. In the spirit of her surrender I will share the humble beginnings of the life of Moses and his mother.

Moses was born in a time when Pharaoh feared the Hebrew slaves would outnumber the Egyptians, so he demanded that every male born was to be killed. One of the Hebrew women became pregnant and for three months was able to keep Moses hidden. But as our verse states it became apparent that he would be discovered so she began a plan of one of the greatest surrenders ever…one of the most powerful ‘Let go and Let God’ stories recorded. Let’s peek between the reeds and watch her for a moment.

“The young mother with tears streaming down her face removes her shawl, and gently lies her baby boy on its soft fabric. She takes the basket in which she carried him and coats it with a binding compound to create a watertight cradle. Thoughts certainly swirled in her mind, ‘It must be safe…it must be able to float…it must save his life.’ As she is waiting for the tar and pitch to dry, she looks over at her sweet child and knows what she must do. With sobs that only a parent can understand, she gently picks up her baby boy and pulls him tightly to her heart, kisses him for what might be the last time and places him in the coated basket. She walks into the water up to her knees and lowers the basket. As his loving eyes meet her tearful eyes, she removes her finger from his tightly made fist and walks away. Never once did she touch that basket once she placed it in the Nile. But thanks to the will and grace of God she was able to reunite with her son. But she doesn’t know that as she walks away surrendering her greatest treasure in hopes that his life might be spared.”

There are so many times when we so desperately want to ‘let go and let God’ in our circumstances. We coat our baskets with prayers and good intentions determined to release our will and control into God’s hands. We lay our burdens down in the basket of surrender and ‘put it among the reeds’ but then we wade into our doubt and pick our baskets back up. We walk in fear…we bend wanting control …and then we gather our basket back up returning to the same shore where we surrendered it.

Whatever is in your basket this morning you can trust that God has coated your circumstances with His power, His provision and His protection. He is in total control of where the basket drifts and on which shore it will be secure. It is not easy to surrender our children…our spouses…our finances…our health. But when we surrender our way for God’s way there is holy exchange of weakness for strength … questions for wisdom…control for acceptance. So while we coat our baskets with prayer for our situations, may we coat them first and foremost with our pleas for God to show us how to leave our baskets among the reeds.