Who was Miriam?
Week 14
Before we begin...
Where do you think God is when we go through hard times?
Can we assume he isn't there?
Unfortunately, many people don't believe in God because bad things happen in the world, and they don't think he is there. Some people even ask, how can a God who loves us, let us go through hard times? Well, these are very good questions to ask. But you see, God knows all things. So, when we go through hard times, God knows why it's happening. It's true that he may not always change the circumstance. But remember, He is God! He knows what is best always, even when we don't understand as humans. A quote that relates to this says, "I don't need to know what God is doing when I know who God is." We know that God is good, he is righteous and holy!
The best part about it is that God does not abandon us when we go through troubling times. Instead, God offers to strengthen us and to comfort us, which teaches us to be dependant on him!
Let's look at a biblical example of someone who depended on God when times were difficult!
Recap!
When the Hebrew people lived in Egypt a long time ago, they were very unhappy. They were slaves to the Egyptians and had to work very hard. Pharaoh worried because he saw that every year there were more of these Hebrews. He thought that they might rebel against the Egyptians. He ordered the Hebrew midwives, who helped the Hebrew mothers while they were giving birth, to kill all the Hebrew baby boys.
The sister's named in this passage is Miriam. Miriam lived with her parents and older brother, Aaron, in the land of Egypt. Her people were Hebrew slaves. She had heard about the new laws of Pharaoh, and she was scared. She knew her mother was going to have a baby soon.
When the baby boy was born, Miriam and her family tried to keep the baby’s arrival a secret. Aaron and Miriam would watch the road. If there were any soldiers, they would begin to sing and play loudly so that the soldiers would not be able to hear the baby. Miriam would watch for the soldiers while her mother took the baby to the river for a bath.
As the baby grew, Miriam and her mother knew they could not keep him hidden much longer. So they made a plan! They made a basket to hold the baby and hid the baby and the basket in the tall grasses of the river. It was Miriam’s job to watch her baby brother. She wasn’t sure what was going to happen, but she approached Pharaoh's daughter and made sure her baby brother was able to nurse. Although her baby brother was adopted into a new family, she trusted in God and did not doubt his goodness.
Does anyone know what happened next? They continued to trust in God and the baby grew up to be an important Jewish prophet. Can you guess his name? It's Moses!
Later on in Exodus 15, we see that God was faithful! Miriam picked up her tambourine and began to lead all the people in singing. She and the other women danced together on the banks of the Red Sea. To show her happiness that God had protected all the Hebrew people, she sang this song: “Sing to the Lord, for he has triumphed graciously; horse and rider he has thrown into the sea.”
REFLECTION
So, we learn that even when our situations are hard and we don't know why things are happening, we always have to trust in God. He is faithful. Some people worship God only when they are going through good times. But as Christians, we are called to worship during good times and bad times. Let's pray that God would help us to have a grateful attitude and worship him always. Let's pray that he would strengthen us so that we can depend on him and not ourselves!
