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| Shiphrah & Puah - Artist unknown |
TO CHEW ON: "The midwives, however, feared God and did not do what the king of Egypt had told them to do; they let the boys live." Exodus 1:17
These Hebrew midwives, Shiphrah and Puah, were doing a brave, maybe even foolhardy thing by saving the lives of newborn boys in the face of Pharaoh's command. But then, as we see the God they feared in action, we realize they were doing a very sensible thing (remarkable about their respect for God: they spared these babies even before God showed His power in the plagues of Egypt and the miracles of the desert).
I think about their stand and I see a lesson in it for me, perhaps for all of us. As our society drifts ever farther from Christian principles, I can imagine scenarios where we might need to take similar stands against our society's laws and social pressures.
For example, a few weeks ago a same-sex couple made local news when they broadcast the fact that the extended family of the baby they were set to adopt withdrew their consent for the baby's adoption because the family didn't want it to be raised by a same-sex couple. Though the family was legally allowed to do this, their actions were labelled homophobic. One of the rejected partners mused about solving such situations with legislation.
The family's stand made me ask myself, what would I have done? It's a valid question, for I believe it will be just a matter of time before the rights of Canadians (and other western, supposedly freedom-of-religion cultures) to express religious convictions in ways that go against the grain of culture, will be illegal.
I submit the answer to how we would react will always be based on who we fear more—God, who has expressed His attitude toward homosexuality and a myriad other things in His word, or the society in which we live?
PRAYER: Dear God, please help me live my life for Your eyes, respecting and lining up my life with what You approve more than what society approves. Amen.
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Unless otherwise noted all Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
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