Good morning…
When our new Associate Pastor, Rev. Dana Ezell, spoke to our Morning Mission Circle last Tuesday, she talked about two ordinary women who followed the call of God and changed the course of history. She shared with us this fascinating story from Exodus 1:15-20 (CEB).
The king of Egypt spoke to two Hebrew midwives named Shiphrah and Puah: “When you are helping the Hebrew women give birth and you see the baby being born, if it’s a boy, kill him. But if it’s a girl, you can let her live.” Now the two midwives respected God so they didn’t obey the Egyptian king’s order. Instead, they let the baby boys live.
So the king of Egypt called the two midwives and said to them, “Why are you doing this? Why are you letting the baby boys live?”
The two midwives said to Pharaoh, “Because Hebrew women aren’t like Egyptian women. They’re much stronger and give birth before any midwives can get to them.” So God treated the midwives well, and the people kept on multiplying and became very strong.
The painting pictured above is entitled Shiphrah and Puah, and it hangs in Dana’s office at Northside Church. It serves as a reminder to all of us: we are each called to respect God above any order from a human being. Brave obedience to the call of God allows the kingdom of God to multiply and become strong among us.
As the story was being told, I immediately thought of my Norwegian “sister” Margit Steinholt, who sadly died of pancreatic cancer this past Saturday, at age 69. Her life-giving influence continues to ripple on and on. Margit herself was a doctor, a gynecologist, a passionate advocate for women’s health, who trained and supported many midwives in villages across the globe. Here is an article, translated roughly in English, describing Margit’s incredible work with women and children in Norway, South Africa, Amish country in America, and many war-torn countries such as Iraq, Myanmar and Cambodia.
“One must be stuck in the mud to experience poverty,” Margit said in her interview. “It was absolutely necessary to experience the fatigue, the flood rivers and the land mines to understand what we should really focus on. If you, as a white western doctor, come to tell people how to live, yes, then you have misunderstood. …when the car is stuck in the mud because the rainy season has ruined the road …you at least get some insight into how the tyranny of the poor is still like a scourge over much the world’s population.”
Shiphrah. Puah. Margit. God used these three courageous midwives to orchestrate the saving of many, many lives. Reverend Dana concluded, “When women follow the call of God upon their lives, the healing power is unstoppable.”
…Sue…
