July23, 2023: Family Worship Service: Old Testament (4-1) : "The Birth of Moses”　

We're going to learn about Moses over the two sessions. As you can see in the diagram, we have talked about Abraham, then Isaac, then Jacob, and last time Joseph, the 11th son. Jacob and his family escaped the famine, moved from Canaan to Egypt, and died there.

The Israelites continued to increase and flourish in a place called Goshen. At first, the Egyptian people respected and were kind to them because they were the family of Joseph, the prime minister. But as time passed, Pharaoh, the king who did not know Joseph, became afraid that the Israelites would one day take over Egypt. Finally, the king began to rule them as slaves. The period of slavery continued for 400 years. I'll let you watch the video for the rest of the story.

It's terrible that Joseph was the one who saved Egypt from famine and even became a minister, and then they enslaved him. Was the new king afraid of the Israelites because they were so talented and strong?

 We watched a long movie called "The Ten Commandments" some time ago.

Yes, it was an old movie, but realistic and so good.

Moses' sister, Miriam, was a smart girl. She was also brave to watch over her brother. She introduced his real mother to the princess to be a nanny. It was unthinkable that the princess let the baby stay with her mother until he did not need to have milk anymore. I think it’s wonderful.

Yes. God protected Moses' family in a very mysterious way.

We have had unimaginable things happening in our lives. The war between Ukraine and Russia, the big earthquakes in Turkey and Syria, the heavy rain disasters in Japan, and many other terrible events, accidents, diseases, problems, and so on. We are in good health and have a sense of peace now, but we could get caught in such a situation at any time. We have to be wise enough to take precautions and countermeasures, but no matter how smart and well-prepared we are, it is not always possible to solve these problems. What should we do in such a situation?

First, shouldn't we pray to God and ask for help? I am sure God will send a helping hand.

That's true. But is it enough just to pray only? Don't we have to do something by ourselves?

We should pray and act at the same time. For example, if we have an important exam coming up, we pray to God that we will pass it. At the same time, we should study hard and not slack off. Dad always tells us that we should be careful not to just pray without putting in effort. We sometimes take pride in our success and forget easily that God helped us.

Even if I study hard, there will be things I don't understand. Is it OK to ask Mom and Dad for help?

Hahaha. That's right. There are some things you can solve on your own, but there are also many things you can't do without the help of others. In such cases, it is important to ask for help from those close to you.

Even though Moses was in a slave environment, he overcame crises with God and people from the time he was a baby, and in the end, God gave him a great mission to lead the nation of Israel out of Egypt and back to Canaan, the Promised Land. I hope we will encourage each other and trust that God will help us with what is best for us. Dad, could you please pray for us?

Yes, let us pray. Beloved Father, thank you for your message today as we worship together as a family. There are times in our lives when we are in desperate need, just like Moses. We feel helpless, and sometimes we cannot even pray. But I was encouraged by today's message that taught us to believe that God will guide us in the best way and encourage us to keep on walking. Please help us daily to have such strong faith. We pray in the name of our beloved Jesus.