Making Godly Personal Choices Against Worldly Pressure

"Then the king of Egypt spoke to the Hebrew midwives..."When you do the duties of a midwife for the Hebrew women,...if it is a son, then you shall kill him; but if it is a daughter, then she shall live." But the midwives feared God, and did not do as the king of Egypt commanded them, but saved the male children alive. (Exodus 1:15-18)

The midwives in this story are true heroes. Here is a situation which is unfortunately too familiar to the Jewish people, where there is a desire of a national leader to exterminate them. In this case, Pharaoh did not want to get rid of the forced labor that he was using (the Hebrew population), but he wanted to minimize their numbers so they would not be a threat.

The midwives needed to make a choice, do they follow the earthly king who had to power to kill them, or do they fear God even more and disobey the direct orders they have been given? While the decision can seem cut and dry, in the moment with such an intimidating presence as the leader of one of the most powerful nations on Earth ordering you to do evil, it is tough to side with the Lord.

To their eternal credit, the two midwives, Shiphrah and Puah defied the Pharaoh and let the males live. They were called to Pharaoh to explain themselves, but instead deceived him by saying that Hebrew women typically give birth even before the midwives get there. Was that a lie? Yes. But a lie to fool a person who is doing evil is not a lie. Other prominent examples of this type of lie would be Germans who helped hide the Jews during the Nazi Holocaust or Underground Railroad participants who aided and hid slaves going North toward freedom.

This kind of usage of deception needs to be used very carefully however, and the usage of "evil" must be that as defined by God and not by man. For example, the deception and fudging of figures of the scientists recently exposed in the "Climategate" scandal could be construed as deception done for the greater good of the Earth (although it was probably done for the greater good of the scientists' funding). Many environmentalists might believe that true evil is our production of carbon dioxide, the gas we emit when we breathe. Irrespective of the argument over whether global warming is true, this instance is not a definition of evil in the eyes of God. In fact, He says, "subdue the Earth" (Gen 1:28), not "save the Earth". So the lies and deception of the scientists in this case are sins.

Ultimately, this passage is really about personal choices that we make. In this situation, the Hebrews were subjugated by Pharaoh and made to do rigorous labor. It seems like they had little personal choices and were trapped in their situations. Scribbles scrawled into rock walls of the time period had desperate pleas written in Hebrew like "Save us El (God)!" carved into them.

But, even though orders were given by Earthly authorities, there is still a personal choice on whether they will be followed. As Christians, we ultimately fear God over anything else. When we refer to Him as "Lord", it is a calculated word which means "My life is God's, for His service alone. Even my own desires and wants must be checked to His authority." There are no half-measures here. We cannot be saved by Christ, and call Him Lord without truly handing over all of ourselves to Him. The standard - the only standard for the Christian is as Paul describes, "I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me."(Gal 2:20)

In that light, there are many agendas in this world, and powerful people who will seek to persuade, influence and even cajole others to do things ranging from unlawful acts to acts lacking in integrity that aren't criminal. They will ask you to mislead others and make it sound harmless by calling it "mere spin". I write these things because it is very real to me and to my profession. I write these things because I know that my heart and my flesh are weak. I know that I am not strong enough to live a life of integrity without the Lord.

Although we may feel trapped and afraid in certain situations, we must remember these two brave midwives. They defied a king who asked them to do evil, and are forever remembered for their faith in the Lord and their allegience to Him alone.

Lord Jesus, You ask us to set ourselves aside and to worship only You. What that means is that You are our Lord in everything and we live our lives for You, knowing that ultimately You are responsible for guiding our lives like a loving Father. We will be all right, things will work out. There are those in the world who are striving to manipulate us for their own gains, and unfortunately they can put very real pressure upon us to forget our core beliefs and values. Lord Jesus, give me the strength to walk in integrity. Let me never choose to do an act that would violate my beliefs, but instead, help me to walk a path of true faith. I know that might mean killing my career, losing friendships, and struggling at times, but I know You will honor my choices accordingly. If the only reward we see is eternal salvation and being with You in Heaven, that is enough. Thank You Lord that You have taught me how to know right from wrong, please empower me with the strength to live it out. I know I am imperfect in that light, but my desire is to get better and better everyday. Please help me in that, In Jesus' name, Amen.