00 - Let Go and Let God 2019 By Pastor Jeff Wickwire

New Year’s Message

“Let Go and Let God”

12/29/19

Exodus 1:22 NKJV “So Pharaoh commanded all his people, saying, “Every son who is born you shall cast into the river, and every daughter you shall save alive.”

Following this terrible edict from Pharaoh to kill all the male babies of the Hebrews when they were slaves in Egypt, the Bible goes on to record in Chapter 2:

2:1-10 NKJV “And a man of the house of Levi went and took as wife a daughter of Levi. 2 So the woman conceived and bore a son. And when she saw that he was a beautiful child, she hid him three months. 3 But when she could no longer hide him, she took an ark of bulrushes for him, daubed it with asphalt and pitch, put the child in it, and laid it in the reeds by the river’s bank.

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Background:

As long as Joseph was alive, Pharaoh, king of Egypt, had been good to the Children of Israel.

But when he died a new Pharaoh came into power who had no emotional attachment or loyalty to Josephs descendants—the Hebrews, God’s chosen people.

And the Hebrews had by now multiplied into a nation living within a nation.

The new Pharaoh became afraid that the Hebrews would grow so numerous and powerful that they would overthrow the Egyptians and take Egypt as their own.

So he first heavily increased their work load of making bricks.

When that didn’t hinder their numerical growth, the Pharaoh ordered that all male Hebrews born were to be killed by the midwives who assisted in the birth.

The midwives refused to comply and Pharaoh doubled down on his horrible decree by ordering that the newborn male Hebrew children be immediately thrown into the Nile River.

The Nile River was filled with predatory creatures like crocodiles, hippopotamus’s, huge turtles, and so on.

So the Nile River became the river of death for the Hebrews.

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Now, we’re told that Moses was born during this terrible time and that he was a particularly beautiful child with a special kind of favor on him.

In the NT the writer of Hebrews tells us that by faith his parents hid him for three months:

“By faith Moses, when he was born, was hidden three months by his parents, because they saw he was a beautiful child; and they were not afraid of the king’s command” (11:23 NKJV).

But eventually he could no longer be hidden—it was too dangerous.

In those days Egyptian spies would regularly report to Pharaoh when the Hebrews were harboring a child, and the child would be taken and killed.

So Moses’ mother decided to build a little ark or tiny boat out of Papyrus, and glue it together with pitch which made it leak proof (the same substance Noah used for his ark).

When it was finished, she took little Moses, only 3 months old, walked down to the Nile River—the river of death—and placed the little basket-like boat with her baby boy into the water.

By faith she let go and trusted him to God!

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And we see in Scripture that the moment her hands let go of that little basket, all of heaven sprang into action.

And this is what I want to focus on today—letting go and letting God.

The Lord has been placing on my heart a message for 2020–that experiencing maximum blessing in this New Year will hinge on our willingness to let go of some things!

In light of that I want to encourage us by showing what God did for Moses’ mother when she let go of the most precious thing in her life and trusted God with it...

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As the story unfolds we see FIRST that Moses’ older sister “stood afar off, to know what would be done to him” (Exodus 2:4 NKJV).

This older sister was no doubt Miriam who, along with Moses’ older brother Aaron, would work alongside Moses in his great calling to deliver God’s people from Egypt and lead them through the wilderness.

And while Miriam stood afar off watching, Pharaoh’s own daughter just happened to decide to take a bath in the Nile.

But her decision was no doubt prompted by God Himself!

The Bible says “People can plan what they want to do, but it is the Lord who guides their steps” (Prov. 16:9 ERV).

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And while at the river she just happened to spot the little basket floating along and told her handmaidens to bring it to her.

And this is why Pharaoh’s daughter later named him “Moses” because she said, “I drew him out of the water.”

And removing the little blanket, she saw the beautiful child, and God touched her heart with compassion.

Now this is the same daughter of Pharaoh who was well aware that Hebrew children were routinely being thrown into the Nile.

But when she saw Moses, God moved her heart with compassion.

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At this very moment Miriam, from a distance, saw her chance and approached saying,

“Shall I go and call a nurse for you from the Hebrew women, that she may nurse the child for you?” 8 And Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Go.” So the maiden went and called the child’s mother” (Ex 2:7-8 NKJV).

Now get this: The very mother who hours before had placed her baby in the river of death trusting him into the hands of God is now being told by Pharaoh’s daughter to care for her own child!

When Moses’ mother arrived, Pharaoh’s daughter said to her:

“Take this child away and nurse him for me, and I will give you your wages.” So the woman took the child and nursed him” (2:9 NKKV).

Catch that! The heartbroken mother that had let go of her son and placed him into God’s Providential care is now receiving him back and BEING PAID to take care of him!

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Now, we learn some very important things from this story:

First,

When we let go, God takes over.

As long as we cling to what God is prompting us to release, God’s hands are tied from doing what He wants to do on our behalf.

But when we let go, heaven springs into action.

We generally hold on to things we think we can’t live without, or that we are heavily attached to.

It can be a relationship that God is nudging us to let go of.

It can be bitterness or anger toward another——We believe they don’t deserve our forgiveness——Or we just don’t want to let go of our grudge.

It can be a dream or a certain direction we’re going in life and God wants us to lay it down so He can lead us in another direction.

Whatever it is, it can’t be much stronger than what Jochebed, Moses’ mother was experiencing!

Yet she let go and let God.

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A second thing we learn from this story is:

II. What you let go of is never as valuable as what’s coming

You might say, “But Jeff, she got the same baby back, not something better!”

But no, she got the same baby back with PAY!

God never asks us to let go of something that He doesn’t have something better to replace it with.

When you think about it, from the moment we’re saved, God asks us to let go of a lesser thing for a better!

We let go of our lostness for His salvation.

We let go of our sin for His righteousness.

We let go of our own life to receive His life.

We let go of our own plans to receive His plan.

The Prophet Isaiah says God gives us beauty for ashes, joy for sorrow, praise for heaviness!

Anything we let go of in obedience to God is always replaced by something better——though at the time it may seem hard to believe something could be better than what we’re clinging to.

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Finally,

III. God gets the glory when we let go

If you read further in Exodus 2 you see that Jochebed one day let go of Moses yet again once she had nursed him for a season, per her agreement.

But in releasing him she also released God’s plan into motion for Moses, who became the deliverer of God’s chosen people from the very Egypt that was tormenting them.

And God got the glory!