Just Because: The Story of Salvation for Children (9 page)

had finished having their babies by the time they went

to their houses. So the Lord blessed these nurses, and

they had babies of their own, and more children were

born to the Hebrew people.

Pharaoh was angry so he gave the Jews another

order. “Every boy that is born you must throw into

the river, but let every girl live.”

The Hebrews tried to hide their baby boys, but

sometimes the soldiers found them and drowned

their babies in the Nile river. The Lord decided it was

time to put His plan into action.

There was a lady who loved the Lord, and the

Lord told her His plan. After she had a baby boy, she

made a basket for him and covered the basket with

black tar so it would float. She put some soft cloth

inside and placed her baby boy in the basket. Then

she placed the basket on top of the water and let it

float into the long grass that grew on the banks of

the Nile river. Then she told her daughter to hide in

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the long grass and watch to see what happened to her

little brother.

After a while, who should come down to the river

but the daughter of the Pharaoh herself? She was a

princess, and she had come to take a bath in the warm

river. She had her servant girls with her. As they were

walking beside the river they saw the basket, and she

sent her slave to fetch it. When she opened it she saw

a beautiful baby boy, and he began to cry. She felt

sorry for him. She realised he was a Hebrew baby. As

she was standing looking at him and wondering what

to do, his sister ran over and asked her, “Shall I run

and get a Hebrew lady to feed the baby for you?”

The princess ordered her to get someone, and

so the girl ran and got his real mother. When she

arrived, the princess told her to take the baby boy

to her house and feed him for her, and she would be

paid money. So the baby’s real mother took the little

boy to her house and cared for him, and she was paid

money by the princess to look after her very own

baby. Cool plan, huh? When he was older she took

him to the princess, and the princess took him to be

her own son. The princess called him Moses, a name

that means to come from the water, and little Moses

grew up to be a prince of Egypt. Satan was angry

because he had been so busy trying to make sure all

the baby boys were killed, and now one of them was

going to be a prince in Egypt.

So Moses grew up living in the palace. He knew

he was a Hebrew because he often visited his mother

and she told him all about the Lord and His promise

to Israel. Moses had the very best teachers in all of

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Egypt so he learned to read and write. He didn’t

know he was being prepared by the Lord, and Satan

didn’t know either. Meanwhile the Jewish people

were forced to keep making large cities and build-

ings for Pharaoh. All day long they were forced to

make bricks. It was very hot in Egypt, and they had

to sweat in the sun and were never given any money

for their work. They had to keep hiding their baby

boys, and they prayed to God to help them. Some

of them had almost given up praying because they

thought the Lord didn’t care anymore. Some of them

wondered why the Lord had allowed such evil things

to happen to them, but the Lord had promised when

He made people that He would never force anyone

to follow Him.

So the first part of the Lord’s plan was started,

and it was a great plan. Lit le Moses was brought

up by his own mother and also as a prince of Egypt.

His mother was very happy because instead of her

son being drowned he was alive and was a prince.

She trusted the Lord. Satan thought he was winning

the bat le with God, but he was wrong. Out of the

same river that had swal owed the lit le boys came

a lit le boy who was a prince of Egypt, a lit le

boy who would become a powerful servant of the

Lord. He didn’t know it yet, but the Lord often has

a wonderful plan for people if only they wil trust

Him, Just Because He has a special plan for every

person’s life, not only princes.

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One day when Moses was about forty years

old he was riding around in his chariot where

the slaves were working. He saw an Egyptian slave

master take a Hebrew slave where he thought no one

could see him, and he was beating him up and hit ing

him with his whip. Moses was very angry because

he knew he was a Hebrew himself and he couldn’t

stand to see this man being hurt like that. Moses

looked around to see if anyone could see him, and

then he ran over and grabbed the slave master. There

was a fight, and Moses ended up kil ing the slave

master. Moses had been trained to fight as wel as to

read and write.

The next day Moses was driving around, and he

saw two Hebrew men having a fight. He rushed over

and stopped them and demanded to know why these

two guys were fighting each other. The men stopped

fighting, but they were still angry.

One of them yelled at Moses, “Who made you

our king? Are you going to kill us as you killed the

Egyptian yesterday?”

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Moses was worried Pharaoh would find out he

had killed an Egyptian. Pharaoh didn’t like Moses

because he hated all Hebrews, and guess what? He

did find out. Moses decided the best thing to do

would be to get out of Egypt as fast as he could so he

grabbed a few things and left. He ran into the desert

where Pharaoh’s soldiers wouldn’t be able to find

him, and he went on a search for water. Moses had

taken some water with him, but there wasn’t much

left; he was also feeling alone. He wasn’t really alone

because the Lord was with him, and the Lord had

some big plans for this guy.

Finally he found a well, a hole similar to the one

Joseph’s brothers had thrown him into four hundred

years before, but this one had lots of nice cold water.

Moses had a long cool drink and sat down to rest.

While he was sitting there some pretty girls came

along with a mob of sheep to give the sheep water.

They started to get the water out when some other

guys arrived with their goats. These guys started

pushing the girls around and told them they were

going to take the water first.

Now before he met the Lord, Moses was a man

who never seemed to walk away from trouble, and

here was trouble. Moses wasn’t going to put up with

seeing girls being bullied by these guys, so he stood

up and wandered over to the well.

“Hey, you guys,” he said. “These girls were here

first so leave them alone.”

“What are you going to do about it, fella?” asked

one of the shepherds. “There’re five of us and only

one of you, so you just go and sit down again.”

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Moses walked over there and looked this guy

right in the eyes and said in a cool and firm voice,

“I’m going to start giving these ladies’ sheep some

water from the well, and if one or all of you dudes try

to stop me you’ll find out you picked on the wrong

man.” Moses stared right at this guy and gave him a

mean look. The shepherds could see he wasn’t joking

with them, so like all cowards who get around in

gangs the shepherds went away. Moses then helped

the girls draw up the water, and they were very happy

about it. One of them, whose name was Zipporah,

starting falling in love with Moses because she could

see he was a very good man, and I reckon she thought

he was pretty cute as well. She didn’t know he was

also a prince, because he didn’t tell anyone, but they

all thought he was an Egyptian because of his hair

cut and clothes.

Moses helped the girls take their sheep home,

and he wanted to make sure the bad shepherd guys

didn’t come back to make trouble again. After

talking to their father they invited Moses to stay for

dinner. Their father’s name was Jethro, and he was

a godly man. Jethro asked Moses if he would like

to stay with them, and he decided he would. Moses

had noticed the way Zipporah was looking at him,

and he thought she was very beautiful also. Sounds

like another romance. So Moses became a shep-

herd himself. After a while he asked Zipporah if she

wanted to marry him, and she was very excited and

of course said yes.

Yep, another romance!

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So Moses had a chat with Jethro, and he was very

pleased for Moses and Zipporah to get married. After

a wedding and a celebration Moses and Zipporah

started their own family. They had a baby boy later,

and although they made their own home Moses felt

like a stranger in a foreign land. For the next forty

years Moses traveled around in the land between

Egypt and Canaan taking the sheep to grass and water.

He knew the country very well after forty years, and

this too was part of the Lord’s plan for him.

Down in Egypt the Pharaoh continued to be

cruel to the Hebrews. It was now four hundred years

since Israel had gone to live in Egypt. When they

went there they were treated like kings, but now

the Hebrews had been slaves for hundreds of years.

They prayed hard to the Lord and pleaded with Him

to help them and to set them free from being slaves.

The Lord heard their prayers, and He loved them.

He remembered His promise to Abraham, Isaac and

Jacob, and He decided the time had come to start the

next part of His plan. He waited until the Pharaoh

who knew Moses died, and then He called Moses in

a very strange way, Just Because He’s the Lord and

He can call any way He likes.

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Moses was eighty years old when the Lord

decided it was time to bring His people out

of Egypt. Although Moses was eighty he was very

fit from walking through the desert and mountains

taking care of the sheep. Now God had a new job for

him to do. One day as Moses was leading the sheep

across part of Mount Horeb he saw a bush on fire.

Now it wasn’t unusual to see a tree on fire in the desert

because sometimes the leaves got real y hot and fires

started. But this bush was different. Although the

flames were leaping out of the bush, the leaves were

not turning brown or being burned. Moses decided to

get closer and look at this strange sight.

Suddenly Moses heard a loud voice from inside

the bush, and he nearly jumped out of his skin with

fright. It’s not every day you hear a bush talking, now

is it? The voice called his name twice, and when he

answered it told him to take off his sandals because

he was standing on holy ground. Moses understood

that holy ground meant it was a place where God was,

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and that meant it was a specially clean and powerful

place. So he was a little bit frightened and scared to

keep looking at the bush.

“Moses,” said the voice, “I am the God of your

father, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.”

Now Moses was really afraid. I mean, he was big

time afraid. He hid his face because he was scared to

look at God.

And the Lord said, “I have seen how sad my

people the Hebrews are in Egypt and how cruel their

slave masters are. I am going to free them from the

Pharaoh and the land of the Egyptians and bring them

to the land I promised them.”

Moses was wondering just what all of this had to

do with him. He didn’t have to wonder very long.

“I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people

the Israelites out of Egypt,” the Lord told Moses.

“Who am I to go down to Egypt, Lord?” asked

Moses, trying to think of a reason why he should not

be the one to go.

“I will be with you, Moses,” said the Lord.

“And if I go and tell them the God of their fathers

has sent me and they ask me Your name, what shall I

tell them?” Moses asked.

The Lord answered him, “Tell them I Am that I

Am has sent you. This is my holy name forever, the

name I AM.”

Now Moses had to think about this for a minute.

The name I AM was not an ordinary name like Tom

or Fred. If the Lord had said I WAS, then this would

mean He may not be in the future. And if He had said

I WILL BE, then it would mean He never used to be.

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But the name I AM meant God has always been alive

and always will be alive. So God was telling Moses

that He has no beginning and no end because He is

the Lord.

So the Lord explained to Moses that He was going

to bring the Israelites out of Egypt. He told Moses the

people would listen to him, but the Pharaoh wouldn’t