"Wicker Baskets"

Now a man of the house of Levi married a Levite woman, and she became pregnant and gave birth to a son. When she saw that he was a fine child, she hid him for three months. 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. His sister stood at a distance to see what would happen to him. (Exodus 2:1-4 NIV).

Israel’s captivity in Egypt was a very dark time in their history. At the time of Moses’ birth, Pharaoh's cruelty to the Hebrew people had hit an all-time high. His attempt to curb their population's growth by having the Egyptian midwives kill their male babies hadn't worked because the mid-wives feared God. So he enslaved the Hebrews even further by forcing them to work long hours building enormous structures. Perhaps he thought that with all the work they wouldn't have the time or energy to reproduce. That didn't work, either. So finally he decreed that all male babies born to the Hebrews were to be thrown into the Nile River to be eaten by the crocodiles. This was the world in which Moses was born.

Moses was apparently a truly striking infant. The ancients regarded beauty in babies as a sign of divine favor, and when Moses was born, his parents, Amram and Jochebed, felt so strongly that God had a divine purpose for their child, that they were willing to risk breaking Pharaoh's recent decree. They managed to successfully hide their infant son for three months, and then carried out a divinely inspired and assisted plan that ensured he would not only survive, but flourish. Jochebed fashioned a wicker basket, made watertight with tar and pitch, to hold the baby she'd named Joachim.

It was indeed tiny in comparison to the size of Noah's ark, but the two had something in common: they both held someone chosen by God, floated on the waters to deliver a fresh start. There have always been, and always will be attempts by the enemy to keep God's plans and purposes from advancing, but attempts are all they are; there will never be any long-term successes. Satan wants us to forget that Jesus defeated sin and death; he wants us to forget that even when our lives seem to be spiraling out of control, we have a God who is watching over us and working things for our good. God's plans are for us to flourish, and his plans are as watertight as a papyrus basket coated with tar and pitch. That’s certainly the promise record by the prophet Jeremiah:

For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. (Jeremiah 29:11 NIV).

Perhaps you feel trapped with no one or nowhere to turn. Would you turn to the Lord. He has prepared a wicker basket just for you!