Welcome to His Encouragement Thursday! I don’t know about you, but Thursdays are my struggle day of the week. By Thursday, I have already been working hard at school and at home, and I just wish it would hurry up and be Friday already. LOL! I definitely need a little extra Jesus time on Thursdays.
Trisha, my blogger friend at Joy of Reading, and I decided on calling this post “His Encouragement” because our real source of peace, strength, and security can only come from Jesus Christ. He and He alone is our constant! We pray and hope that these Thursday posts become a real encouragement to you and help you end your week strong in God’s love and purpose for you. God bless!
Today’s Thursday Encouragement comes from:
Exodus 1:17 (ESV)
But the midwives feared God and did not do as the king of Egypt commanded them, but let the male children live.
Once upon a time in Egypt, there were two midwives. One was named Shiphrah and the other Puah. As the Hebrews were growing in number and strength, Pharaoh grew more and more disconcerted. As Pharaoh saw it, the Hebrew population was more than the Egyptian, so what was stopping the Hebrews from taking over? Pharaoh decided to make the Hebrews his slaves and ordered the midwives to murder all Hebrew baby boys. In his blinding paranoia, it never occurred to Pharaoh that the midwives might not be OK with his murder plan.
It turns out they absolutely were NOT OK with Pharaoh’s plan, and instead took it upon themselves to lie — “we are sorry, Pharaoh, but we just can’t get to the births in time to kill the boys because Hebrew women are too strong. They give birth so quickly we can’t get to the homes in time.”
Lying to an earthly king didn’t phase Shiphrah or Puah because they feared God. To these women, nothing, not even Pharaoh, was bigger or stronger or more powerful than God. Because of their courage, and for saving countless lives, God rewards Shiphrah and Puah with families of their own.
Today I am encouraged by Shiphrah and Puah. Their story is a good reminder to stand firm in my trust and faith in God. There truly is no one on this earth bigger, stronger, or smarter than God!
NOW, IT’S YOUR TURN!
WHAT BIBLICAL VERSE IS ENCOURAGING YOU TODAY?
Check out more Thursday Encouragement from my fellow blogger friends:
Trisha @ Joy of Reading
Jacquelyn @ A Heavenly Home
Jessica @ A Baker’s Perspective
Becca @ The Becca Files
Gina @ Stories by Gina
Rebecca @ Rev. Rebecca Writes
Andi @ Radiant Light
Leslie @ Edits & Reviews by Leslie
The Christian Fiction Girl 
Two women that chose to follow God and do what was right! What a shinning example!
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I agree! They’re great role models. 🙂
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Such a wonderful example of staying faithful to our Lord!
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They are very inspiring!
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Powerful!
You know, we often interpret the 9th commandment to mean “Thou shalt not lie” but that is not what it actually says. Exodus 20:16 says: “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.” There is a big distinction here, especially when we view the courageous individuals of the Bible who lied in ordered to save lives: Shiphrah and Puah and later on Rahab, etc. These women risked their own lives to save God’s people, and they do so with lies, yet they were praised and rewarded for it.
Just thinking out aloud… I’ll have to do more study on the topic.
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Me too! These women have been in my brain for three days! It definitely needs more study. I love that though … how God keeps at me with these ideas. It makes me feel a deep connection to Him.
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The story of Shiprah and Puah is so powerful and often so overlooked. Thank you for highlighting their supranational story today! They encourage me as well 🙂
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