Motivation Monday - Why Genesis Moments May Mean Being Brave
“Do you believe that brave is determined in the fire, in the lion’s den, and in the baskets of surrender? What might God be asking you to surrender? Is it your most precious possession as it was for Jochebed? You can trust Him with it.”
What makes you scared? You've probably heard over the years that public speaking tops the list of things people fear most, followed closely by fear of snakes, freaking us out more than even the inescapable fear of death. But fear in North America has grown and shifted dramatically over the last year or two, and more so in the last 6 months, leaving death and public speaking buried beneath a long list of more pressing things to stress about. Think about what makes you fearful as you look over this list:
Fear of the pandemic
Fear of failure
Fear of rejection
Fear of ridicule
Fear of being alone
Fear of disappointment
Fear of scarcity
Fear of pain
Fear of the unknown
Fear of losing your freedom
Fear of not being enough
Helen Keller said, “Life is either a daring adventure or nothing at all.” But you might be thinking, like me, that we have had about enough adventure for one lifetime, thank you very much, as we face the daily uncertainty of life in a pandemic.
So how can you be brave, even if you are fearful? I think of Moses’ mother, Jochebed. She faced daily uncertainty, not knowing if this would be the day when Pharoah’s order to kill her son would be carried out. Then Pharaoh gave this order to all his people: “Every Hebrew boy that is born you must throw into the Nile”. (Exodus 1:22)
How scared was Jochebed? How scared would you be? Would you feel the daily threat paralyze you or would you act? Jochebed must have been scared, but she was also a woman of faith who decided that she would take her chances by believing that God had something better. Hers was a calculated risk as day in and day out, she quietly wove the basket she would place Moses in to be surrendered by her own hands into the Nile. None of her friends took that risk. It was she alone who kept Moses hidden until the basket was finished. She then “placed the child in it and put it among the reeds along the bank of the Nile.” (Exodus 2:3).
Scared is what you feel. Brave is what you do.
It took one defining moment, one act of surrender, one act of bravery that changed the trajectory of history for the Hebrew nation, as Moses later led them out of Egypt and out of slavery. What can we learn from Jochebed’s calculated risk?
Desperate times, (maybe like the one we are in now!) call for:
Daring measures and divine moves
Deep motivation by faith to obey God vs. fearing man
Delayed materialization of destiny – Jochebed could not know that her and her husband would be mentioned in the after story (Hebrews 11:23) as ‘not being afraid of the king’s edict’.
Character is forged in the defining moments
when a person must choose between right and right.
Jochebed had to disobey Pharoah’s orders in order to obey God. Waiting in fear and doing nothing was not an option for her.
Maybe your fear stems from the daily news reports as you wait for a miracle for the world to be a place you can trust, to get your job back, or to be safe enough for make plans again. How can you be brave? It must have been so hard for Jochebed to surrender her basket. But she did it. She did not conform to the culture of her day. She strategized. She thought differently. She acted differently.
Jochebed took a huge risk.
Her risk led to Moses’ rescue by Pharoah’s daughter
Her risk led to the redemption of the Hebrew nation from Egypt
What would your brave moment and bold move lead to if you felt God calling you to it?
Do you believe that brave is determined in the fire, in the lion’s den, and in the baskets of surrender? What might God be asking you to surrender? Is it your most precious possession as it was for Jochebed? You can trust Him with it.
Don’t fear taking calculated risks. Future generations are waiting for you, are indeed counting on your, to make your brave count. There is a genesis moment waiting for you. One in which God might be asking you to be brave. To trust Him. To surrender the outcomes to Him. And step out and watch how He creates destiny out of chaos. He’s the only One who can.
I believe in you!
Cathie