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 2:3

Today’s Scripture Reading (May 21, 2012): Exodus 2

When I was in college, there was a game that we liked to play. The idea was that we would play a prank on someone, but when we were questioned about the incident, we couldn’t lie. It was all about how the questions that were asked, and the creative way that we chose to answer them. If it was items that we took and hid, it was being careful to mention the things that we didn’t touch, or if it was about where certain personal items were removed to, then we had to make sure that we didn’t know where all the items were so that there was a list that we could honestly say we didn’t know about. The game was all about carefully worded questions, and even more carefully worded answers.

By the letter of the law, there was nothing - except delay – that Moses’ mother did wrong. The Pharaoh had commanded that every boy should be thrown in to the Nile River. And that is exactly what mom does. Except that the Pharaoh’s endgame was to see the boys drowned, but Moses is at least temporarily safe inside his tar coated basket. He is thrown into the river, but not into the water.

What we need to understand is that when God asks us to do something, there is always a way to get the job done. Sometimes we just have to get creative and rethink what it is that we hear God asking us to do.  And the words – we have never done that before – can’t be allowed to stop us. We need the persistence of Moses mom, and the creativity to understand the various ways that a boy can be thrown into the Nile River.

We are the creative product of a creative God. And part of what sin is for us, is the stifling of that creation.

  

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Exodus 3