and can be the basis for many other spiritual qualities. S om e tim e s we think that for one circumstance we have courage, for another resourceful ness, for another loyalty, etc., and when we can’t see any other solution, or when we have run out of resources, we “must just have faith.” It is true that often we are driven to utter reli ance on God by being backed into “Wit’s End Corner.” God’s plan for us, however, is that we live at all times in that vital relationship to God that makes the Holy Spirit the Originator, Guide, and P ow e r of our every thought and action. When we live such a life of faith, other qualities of character that we need will grow strong and come into operation as God sees that we require them. Hebrews 11:24 — By faith Moses, when he was come to years) refused to be caUed the son of Pharaoh’s daughter; 25 — Choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season. Moses learned to have faith in the God of Israel at his mother’s knee, for she was his nurse while he was very young. When he grew a little older, Pharaoh’s court became his en vironment and place of instruction (Exod. 2:5-10), but he never forgot his earliest training. The day came when Moses’ faith and loyalty were put to the test. He could either go on enjoying the intel lectual and material pleasures of Pharaoh’s court — perhaps, as tradi tion has it, even be adopted by Phar aoh’s daughter and thus be in line for the throne—or he could stand up for his own people, the bitterly-oppressed Hebrews. The latter choice would mean a clean break with the king’s court, and this was sure to incur Phar- oah’s wrath. One day Moses made his choice—he went out among his breth ren to see their plight and found that his loyalty to his own people was stronger than his sense of self-preser vation. He killed an Egyptian who was brutalizing a Hebrew (2:11, 12). In that moment he symbolically forsook Egypt and turned his back on Phar-
ing,” as the Scandinavians say. Not that Christians should mope around and refuse to live effectively while on earth, but they should keep bright the vision of their true homeland. Such a vision will keep them from looking back when the going gets rough. This vision of faith in which we as believers see our future home will create within us a sense of detach ment toward the enticing things we encounter during our sojourn here on earth;. Hebrews 11:23 — By faith Moses, when he was born, was hid three months of his parents, because they saw he was a proper child; and they were not afraid of the king’s com mandment. The birth of a child is more nat urally a time for looking to the future than is the death of a man. During the period when Moses was born, how ever, few parents had cause for re joicing or hope for the future if their child was a boy. Pharaoh had issued an order that all male Israelite chil dren be' thrown into the River Nile (Exod. 1:7-22). Every Sunday school child is familiar with the tender story of how Moses’ mother hid him in her house as long as she could, and then carefully fashioned a watertight bas sinet so that he could be hidden among the bulrushes (2:1-4). This may seem to us to have been act of desperation, but the author of the letter to the Hebrews calls it an act of faith. Faith in God enabled Moses’ par ents to face the ocnsequences of their act honestly and yet to go ahead un afraid. It enabled them to think clearly and to d e v is e ways and means of caring for their child. The Bible does not say that God has as sured them that Moses would be saved, so their faith was not based on a promise, as Noah’s and Abraham’s had been. They simply believed that God would do whatever was right for them if they did what He led them to do. This assurance gave them both cour age and resourcefulness. We have seen that faith operates under vastly different circumstances
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