8-23-26 “Small Acts of Courage”
“Small Acts of Courage”
I want to start with something funny that I found on an internet site. I think I have shared this story about an elderly lady before. One day, when she went to the store, she accidentally locked her keys in her car. She used a coat hanger to try to get the door open, but it didn’t work. So, she prayed, asking God to help her. About that time, a real rough-looking guy drove up on a motorcycle. He was wearing leather, had tattoos, and was wearing a skullcap. Within fifteen seconds, he had opened her car.
She hugged him and said, “Lord, thank you for sending me this nice man.” He said, “Lady, I’m not a nice man. I just got out of prison after serving time for grand theft auto.” She gave him an even bigger hug and said, “Lord, thank you. You even sent me a professional!”
I wonder how often we give thanks to God and to others. Faith begins with a grateful heart. When we express our thankfulness to God and to others, our faith and love for God grow.
Today, we have come through the Book of Genesis and entered the Book of Exodus.
If you haven’t yet accepted the challenge of reading the entire Bible, you can at least follow the Scripture passages we use for our Sunday sermons. That way, little by little, you may read at least half of the Bible. As Christians, we really should try to read the entire Bible, shouldn’t we? It is not too late. Why not start today?
We have journeyed through the stories of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph. Because of Joseph’s invitation, Jacob and his whole family came to Egypt. At that time, Jacob’s descendants who came to Egypt numbered about seventy people. As Exodus 1:5 tells us, they settled in Egypt, in the land of Goshen, and they multiplied and prospered.
Then many years passed. Joseph died. The Pharaoh who knew Joseph also died.
Imagine Egypt many years after Joseph died. Joseph’s name has been forgotten. The Pharaoh who knew Joseph is gone. And now there is a new Pharaoh. He looks out and sees the Israelites multiplying. And he becomes afraid. “What if there are too many of them?”
So, Pharaoh begins to make their lives miserable. He puts them to hard labor. And then he gives an even more terrible command: every Hebrew baby boy must be killed. It must have been a frightening time. The Israelites were a minority. They had no political power. They had no army. They had no way to fight Pharaoh. What could they possibly do?
And this is where the story becomes interesting. Yes, as you may have guessed, this is the beginning of Moses’ story. But do you know how Moses became a great leader of Israel? God did not begin with an army or a powerful king. Instead, God began with two midwives: Shiphrah and Puah.
They feared God, and they did not do what the king of Egypt had commanded them to do. They let the baby boys live. They were more afraid of God than they were of Pharaoh. So they quietly refused to obey Pharaoh. They did something small.
When Pharaoh questioned them, they said, “Hebrew women are not like Egyptian women; they are vigorous and give birth before the midwife arrives.” (Exodus 1:19)
Their small act of courage saved lives—and became the beginning of a much bigger story in God’s hands.
And then there was another woman. She gave birth to a baby boy. She looked at him and knew that he was in danger. She could not change Pharaoh’s law. She could not defeat Pharaoh.
She could not protect her baby forever. But she could make a basket. So she made a basket, placed her precious baby in it, and put it among the reeds along the bank of the Nile. And then she let go.
Can you imagine what that moment must have felt like? She didn’t know what would happen next. She had done everything she could do. Then she placed her precious baby in the basket, trusting him into God’s hands.
And sometimes that is what faith looks like. Doing what we can do—and then placing the rest in God’s hands. Yes, God was already at work. Miriam, the baby’s sister, watched from a distance. Then Pharaoh’s daughter came down to the river and discovered the basket. She opened it and saw the baby. Her heart was moved with compassion. She decided to keep him and raise him as her own son.
And once again, God used an ordinary act of courage. A mother’s love and courage, and a woman’s compassion, saved a baby and shaped the history of Israel. And that baby was Moses. As you know, Moses would later become the great leader whom God used to lead the Israelites out of Egypt. What a wonderful story of God’s providence! Pharaoh’s daughter’s small act of compassion saved not only baby Moses but ultimately became part of God’s plan to save the entire Israelite people.
My dear family in Jesus Christ, sometimes when we look at our church, we may feel like those Israelites in Egypt. “We are not a big church.” “Our congregation is getting older.” “We don’t have many children.” “There are many challenges.” And sometimes we may wonder, “What difference can we really make?”
But then I hear the story of Exodus, and I remember: God has never needed a large number of people to begin something important. Think about it: God used two midwives. God used one mother. God used one young girl. God used one compassionate woman. And God used their small acts of courage to change the future.
So when we renovate our church buildings—for Grantsburg, repairing the furnace; for Atlas, renewing the church signage and repainting the building; and for St. Croix Falls, preparing a nursery room and installing a lift—we may think, “We are just fixing our churches because they are old.” But perhaps God sees something more. Perhaps we are preparing a place for someone who hasn’t walked through our doors yet.
When we open our hearts to our community through our monthly mission projects, we may think, “We are just helping one person, one family, or one community.” But perhaps God sees something more. Who knows? There may be great leaders among the next generation.
When we focus on the next generation, even when there are only a few children among us, perhaps God sees something more. Who knows? There may be children like Moses who will one day lead and make a difference in the world. When we visit our older members, sit beside them, listen to their stories, pray with them, and wrap them in a prayer shawl, we may think, “This is just a small act of kindness.” But perhaps God sees something much more through our small acts of faith and love. Because love is never wasted in God’s hands. Prayer is never wasted in God’s hands. And a small church that keeps faithfully serving is never insignificant in God’s hands.
Now, let me bring the sermon back to the basket. Moses’ mother put that little basket into the Nile. She could not see the future. She could only see a little basket floating among the reeds, carrying her precious baby and her prayers for his safety. But God could see the whole story.
Maybe that is where we are today. We may see only our small church. We may see only our small steps. We may see our renovation, our mission projects, our prayer shawls, our visits, and the children we welcome. We may wonder, “Can these small things really make a difference?” But remember Moses. Be faithful. Be courageous. So let us trust God with our small acts today. We may see something small. But God may be beginning something great through us.
Thanks be to God. Amen.