The Sufficiency of the Insignificant
Exodus 1:15-21
Pastor Lee Hemen, May 05, 2024
Have you ever heard of Henrietta Lacks? “Henrietta was a poor tobacco farmer from Virginia. Her death was remarked by no one except her children, her family, and her friends. However, Henrietta Lacks is the source of the HeLa cell line—her blood contained uniquely immortal cells that can live outside her body indefinitely. After the birth of her fifth child in 1951, Henrietta was admitted to Johns Hopkins University Hospital complaining of “a knot in her womb,” and doctors took a sample of tissue. It was soon noticed that, unlike normal cells, Henrietta’s cells did not die after a few days but rather continued to grow, doubling every 20 to 24 hours. Henrietta’s cells can be found in the trillions in laboratories around the world. They have been used by medical researchers studying not only cancer but also hemophilia, influenza, leukemia, and Parkinson’s disease. They were also used in developing the polio vaccine, the cancer drug tamoxifen, chemotherapy, gene mapping, and a whole host of other uses. The HeLa cells show no signs of dying. Henrietta Lacks, however, died within months of her admission to the hospital due to a malignant tumor in her cervix. She was buried in an unmarked grave, never knowing that she would go on to save millions of lives and that her remarkable cells would live forever. Henrietta’s grave finally received a headstone in 2010.” (listverse.com – 10 People You’ve Never Heard of Who Changed the World by Ward Hazell)
Perhaps you think that you are insignificant or not sufficient in order to be used by God, but nothing could be further from the truth. The Apostle Paul wrote that “But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things–and the things that are not–to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him. (1 Corinthians 1:27-29 NIV84)” And here in this passage from Exodus we discover exactly how God does that in the lives of those who are insignificant.
READ: Exodus 1:15-21
We discover that…
I. Significance Is No Match for Humility! (vv. 15-16)
The king of Egypt said to the Hebrew midwives, whose names were Shiphrah and Puah, ‘When you help the Hebrew women in childbirth and observe them on the delivery stool, if it is a boy, kill him; but if it is a girl, let her live.’ (Exodus 1:15-16 NIV84)”
1. Pharaoh thought he was a god. He was perhaps the supreme ruler of his day and age. All those he ruled over, acquiesced to his every whim. He was kind of like the Centurion Jesus would meet many centuries later who declared, “For I myself am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. I tell this one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and that one, ‘Come,’ and he comes. I say to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it. (Matthew 8:9 NIV84)” Except Pharaoh was under no one’s authority, or so he thought. Pharaoh had monuments, humongous statues, pyramids, and entire cities built simply to aggrandize his own ego. He oppressed the Israelites simply because he could. In fact, we learn that “But the more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied and spread; so the Egyptians came to dread the Israelites and worked them ruthlessly. (Exodus 1:12-13 NIV84)” Pharaoh was not about to give up his slave labor, nor was he going to allow them to outpopulate his own people. So, “The king of Egypt said to the Hebrew midwives, whose names were Shiphrah and Puah, ‘When you help the Hebrew women in childbirth and observe them on the delivery stool, if it is a boy, kill him; but if it is a girl, let her live.’ (Exodus 1:15-16 NIV84)” Yet, we learn that “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 NIV84)” The name Shiphrah means “beautiful, harmony” from the verb “to be pleasing or harmoniously composed”. I like that. And Puah means “splendid or radiant” from the verb “to be healthy or joyful”. These two insignificant women humble a mighty Pharaoh. Significance is no match for humility!
EXAMPLE: The word for humility comes from humus, meaning dirt or earth. It carries the suggestion that those who would come before royalty would bow down, toughing their foreheads to the earth to signify their humility before their king. Today, self-realization and enhancing our self-worth are our highest aspirations. It creates arrogance, greed, and self-centeredness. It was during contract negotiations that the plant manager declared, “I’m the boss! I’m your manager! You will listen to me!” and he angerly banged his fist on the table. He got real quiet, really fast, grabbed his hand and hurried out of the room. He had hit the table so hard, he had fractured several bones in his hand. He came back later with a bandaged hand and more humble attitude. Significance is no match for humility!
We discover that…
II. Sufficiency is Found in Following God! (vv. 17-19)
1. The midwives, however, feared God and did not do what the king of Egypt had told them to do; they let the boys live. Then the king of Egypt summoned the midwives and asked them, “Why have you done this? Why have you let the boys live?” The midwives answered Pharaoh, “Hebrew women are not like Egyptian women; they are vigorous and give birth before the midwives arrive. (Exodus 1:17-19 NIV84)”
1. Beautiful and Splendid decided it was far better to follow the Lord Almighty rather than an arrogant Pharaoh. They “feared God and did not do what the king of Egypt had told them to do”! How many of us would be like these two insignificant women? Would we be willing to stand up to a big-headed boss, an egotistical co-worker, a loud-mouthed neighbor, or ridiculous relative in order to follow the Lord? Shiphrah and Puah did. The fear expressed here is both fear of the consequences of not following through and honoring God by living the way he would want, but also awe. Being the witness, the salt and light, even amongst their own people! I am sure there were those Jews who would have told these women, “Don’t make waves. You will only get yourself or your families in trouble.” But these two women, who no one knew, unless you needed a mid-wife, were willing to risk everything in order to save baby boys, and ultimately their own people. They understood what they were being asked to do. Pharaoh wanted to extinguish any threat to himself, his kingdom, even if it meant murdering innocent children. Shiphrah and Puah could not do what he commanded them to do. So, when the Pharaoh demanded an answer as to why they did what they did, they respond by telling him, “Hebrew women are not like Egyptian women; they are vigorous and give birth before the midwives arrive!” Wow. “Never was so much owed by so many to so few” like British prime minister Winston Churchill declared during WWII about the British fighter pilots, and it certainly applies here, doesn’t it? Sufficiency is found in following God!
EXAMPLE: Far too many of us are more concerned with what others think of us than how God views us. SnapChat, InstaGram, Facebook (Meta), X, and other online platforms curry more of our unnecessary attention than does our morality or standing with the Lord. I can remember being more afraid of what my mom or dad thought of me than what others did. One of the worst things we could hear was, “Just wait until I tell your father hears about this” or “What would your mother think?” I learned that it mattered what my parents thought of me, and it should matter what God thinks of us as well. As the Psalmist sang, “May these words of my mouth and this meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, LORD, my Rock and my Redeemer. (Psalms 19:14 NIV)” Shiphrah and Puah understood that sufficiency is found in following God!
We learn that…
III. Insignificance Is Rewarded! (vv. 20-21)
So, God was kind to the midwives and the people increased and became even more numerous. And because the midwives feared God, he gave them families of their own. (Exodus 1:20-21 NIV)
1. These two insignificant women teach us today how to come up against authorities and others that are ungodly. The Prophet Micah would write many centuries later: “He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God. (Micah 6:8 NIV)” Shiphrah and Puah realized that the Lord had placed them in a position to be able to do something everyone else around them thought was impossible. What was the outcome of their actions? Perhaps they were ridiculed by family, “What are you doing? You are endangering your family!” Perhaps they were told to stop by the Jewish elders: “You two foolish women are going to bring the wrath of Pharaoh down on all of us!” Yet we find none of this, instead we discover that the outcome of their humility was that “God was kind to the midwives and the people increased and became even more numerous. And because the midwives feared God, he gave them families of their own.” Their people were blessed and became even more numerous, and because they were willing to fear God more then Pharaoh, God gave them families of their own! This is the lesson we need to learn today: Insignificance is rewarded!
EXAMPLE: My mom would say, “Virtue is its own reward.” Or “Kindness is its own reward.” Whenever she wanted to make a particular point, she would insert whatever she wanted in front of “its own reward”. Making your bed is its own reward. Often, we did not want to hear it, no matter what she decided to insert. Virtue, kindness, morality, hard work, or whatever. Being teenagers we just wanted to do our own thing. Sadly, much of the world exists and lives as immature adolescents. They are easily manipulated by social media or the mob. Just look at what is occurring on many college campuses around our nation. You may not think you are talented, smart, know enough Bible, good looking, young, old, short, tall, fat or thin; guess what? God does not care! He has placed you where you are to walk humbly, seek him, and allow him to use you because like Shiphrah and Puah found out, insignificance is rewarded!
Conclusion:
Significance is no match for humility! Sufficiency is found in following God! Insignificance is rewarded!
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This article is copyrighted © 2024 by Lee Hemen and is the sole property of Lee Hemen and may not be used unless you quote the entire article and have my permission.
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