“When [Pharaoh’s daughter] opened [the basket], she saw the child, and behold, the baby was crying. She took pity on him…” – Exodus 2:6

Scripture reading: Exodus 2:1-10

God’s deliverance includes an unlikely rescuer. Pharaoh’s daughter delivers baby Moses, the future deliverer. Pharaoh is cruel, but Pharaoh’s daughter shows pity. God often uses the unlikely to accomplish His ends. Some people know it; others do not. Often the ignorant are in lofty positions, like Pharaoh’s daughter who unexpectedly does not follow the cruelty of her father.

God often uses the unexpected to declare His greatness and to stress His grace. Those who oppose Him the most, as often depicted, are but means that the Lord uses to accomplish His purposes. Pharaoh is foiled by his own daughter in God’s plans. God has used Caesar Augustus, Herod the Great, Pontius Pilate—the powerful and the influential, to fulfill His plans. They may counsel against God, but God laughs from heaven (Ps. 2:4).

God can use many or a few to accomplish His purposes. He can shame the strong with the weak, the wise with the simple. He can make us strongest when we are weakest as we lean on Him. Christ becomes poor for our sake so that we can become rich. He humbles Himself on the road to glory. Christ’s cross of shame becomes the Christian’s glory unto salvation as God displays His power at Golgotha. This is why the gospel is so often foolishness to the Gentile and a stumbling block to the Jew. God uses the unexpected for His purposes. God uses us this way as well by His grace in Jesus Christ.

Suggestions for Prayer: Thank the Lord that He is able to use all things, even the most influential to His saving purposes and the good of His people in Christ. Pray that the Lord will help you see His hand at work in the days in which you live, so that you might praise Him all the more.

Rev. John Vermeer is the pastor of Doon United Reformed Church in Doon, Iowa.