The Wonder in the Details

We all have our baggage. We carry our past around with us and some of it we wish we could get rid of and forget. Other parts of our past seem so wonderful, we long to go back to the "good ole days." 

Is that really how we should assess our lives? Are we missing something?

Many are familiar with the story of Moses and even his birth narrative in Exodus 2:1-10. He was born at a time when Hebrew baby boys were targeted for destruction by Egypt's Pharaoh. In this story, we see details are used in Moses' life and the history of a nation.

The fact Moses' mother placed him in the reeds of the river and Pharaoh's daughter "drew" him out of the reeds is significant. The word here in the Hebrew for "reeds" is the same word for the Red Sea where the Hebrews would be drawn out by God and saved from certain death also.

Many more details surface in the story which foreshadow the exodus, though they can't all be covered here. When Moses' sister asks the Pharaoh's daughter if she should get a Hebrew woman to nurse this baby, the Pharaoh's daughter simply replies, "Go." This will be the later Pharaoh's reply but only after ten plagues and the death of his firstborn son. We see a contrast between this princess' heart and the hardened heart of the later Pharaoh. 

There are many other details in this story and God used them all. We may think these were embellished in the story, but the truth is, God is more than capable of orchestrating such details in real life without literary embellishment. It is also necessary to see our understanding of what qualifies a historical narrative as historical is not perfect. The bottom line is God did not waste the details of Moses' life.

Will He waste the details of your life or mine? Perhaps the very things we consider mundane and unimportant today are the very things God uses to create major shifts in our life's trajectory. It is difficult for us to accept at times, but even the little struggles, flaws, and victories, no matter how small, matter. 

God connected so many details in Scripture to the lives of the people it tells us about. Are we any different? Are not the details of my life connected to my purpose? The details we often dismiss may be the very details God is using to shape what we would consider major shifts in our life's story. Where and when we were born and every experience will be used in redemptive history, not just in our personal history. Some will later be seen as a departure from God's will and plan, but this is not wasted. God uses even our rebellion, as He did the Pharaoh's, to display His plan and glory.