A Courageous Girl Is Obedient

Claire Black: This is True Girl, a podcast for girls and their moms. Together, we’ll explore God’s truth for us, one drive at a time! But for this episode, we needed an airplane.

You’re about to grow closer to each other and closer to Jesus. But be sure to fasten your seatbelts; we’re traveling to Egypt!

On our “Quest for Courage,” you’ll learn five lessons in courage from the life of Miriam. Our host, Dannah Gresh, is going to help us. Dannah and her team wrote a Bible study for tweens titled Miriam: Becoming a Girl of Courage. 

In today’s episode, Dannah and her cohost Staci Rudolph have made it to Egypt and are at their first destination on their quest for courage. Where, you ask? Well, they’re actually at the location where we first meet Miriam on the pages of the Bible. You see, the book of Exodus gives us a pretty clear mark on the map to tell us Miriam’s location when we first read about her. 

Do you know where that is?Let’s jump right in!

[Splash]

So, that was a clue! Got it now?

Let’s see if you’re right as we continue to explore true courage andunderstand what it has to do with obedience! Today, we’ll learn courage lesson #1 from the life of Miriam, in Episode 2 of Season 7, titled “A Courageous Girl Is Obedient.”

Staci Rudolph: Here we go! Dannah, I can’t believe we’re actually here on a boat cruising down the Nile River! Can you? Just look around. I mean it’s so beautiful!

Dannah Gresh: I know! It’s a dream. Plus, Staci, God’s creation just never ceases to amaze me. Hey, wanna hear a fun fact?

Staci: Yeah, I mean honestly, I just still can’t believe I’m here. I’m kind of in de-Nile [denial]. 

Dannah: No, you didn’t. Okay, here’s my fun fact: the Nile River is one of the longest rivers in the whole world. 

Staci: Really? That’s crazy!

Dannah: Yeah, you want to guess how long it is? 

Staci: Hmm . . . 2,000 miles?

Dannah: Nope!

Staci: 3,000 miles?

Dannah: You’re closer.

Staci: 4,000 miles?

Dannah: You got it! The Nile River is 4,100 miles long! That’s hard for me to imagine, so I looked it up.

That’s about how far it is from New York City to Rome, Italy! Like, that’s a long river. Isn’t that incredible? And here’s the best part: the Nile is home to all sorts of creatures like turtles, snakes, hippos, and crocodiles.

Staci: Did you say snakes? 

Dannah: Uh huh. 

Staci: Let’s not get too close to the water then!

Dannah: Well, actually hippos are the ones you wanna watch out for. They may look kinda cute, but they’re the most dangerous animals on the planet! 

Don’t worry though, we won’t get too close. Staci, Just sit back and enjoy the view! And the lesson, we’re gonna learn Courage Lesson #1 from the life of Miriam. Seriously, Staci, sit back.

Staci: Okay, I’ll try. Ahhhh, so nice!

So, Dannah, why did you pick the Nile River as our first stop on the trip? I woulda thought we’d go see pyramids or something!

Dannah: Well Staci, the Nile River is a very important stop on our quest for courage. You see, Miriam was just a little Hebrew slave girl when she did something very courageous somewhere on the banks of the Nile River. 

Staci: Oh yeah, I know that story.

Hey True Girl, don’t get too close to the boat’s edge. There’s no jumping into the Nile today. But I think it’s time to dive into our lesson for today. Here’s Ephesians 6:1.

Children, obey your parents because you belong to the Lord, for this is the right thing to do.”

“Now, Staci” you might say! “That’s a great verse, but what does obeying your parents have to do with courage?” Stick with me, alright? 

This verse is one of the only commands God directs specifically to children. So, it’s worth paying attention to. It says obeying our parents is the right thing to do.

So, here’s where the courage comes in. Have you ever had to obey God or your parents even though it was super unpopular? Like, maybe you aren’t allowed to see a certain movie everyone else loves, and you’re at a friend’s house, and she’s like, “Hey wanna watch . . .” and then the name of that movie comes out of her mouth. You think, Unbelievable! She had to pick that one. At that very moment, obedience might require some courage to do the right thing. Ya know what I mean!

Dannah: That’s a good example, Staci! Remember, courage is not doing extraordinary things. True courage can actually look like doing something as simple and ordinary as obeying your parents!

Staci: In fact, sometimes courage can even mean babysitting your little brother, just like Miriam did right here on the Nile River.

Dannah: Exactly! Do me a favor. Close your eyes and just listen. What do you hear?

Staci: I hear the water flowing in the Nile River

Dannah: Yes.

Staci: I hear birds chirping in the palm trees along the river banks.

Dannah: Yeah. 

Staci: I hear those plant thingies blowing in the wind.

Dannah: Okay. Hold on . . . plant thingies? What are you talking about?

Staci: I don’t know what they’re called. Those plants along the river bank that look like corndogs. What are they called again?

Dannah: Oh, you mean the bulrushes? Staci, you crack me up!

Staci: Hey, I can’t help it! It’s almost lunch time, and I’m hungry. Maybe after this we can go try some of the local Egyptian food?

Dannah: Okay, that’s a plan! But let’s get back to listening.

Now, think back in time with me to ancient Egypt.

In order to help us understand why babysitting displays Miriam’s courage, we need to see what was happening in Egypt.

When Miriam was probably, I don’t know, just a baby herself, Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, gave an order for the Hebrew midwives—those are the women who helped other women when they were giving birth. Staci, can you read Exodus 1:16 for me? It talks about what that order was. 

Staci: You got it! Exodus 1:16. Ah, here we go.

When you help the Hebrew women as they give birth, watch as they deliver. If the baby is a boy, kill him; if it is a girl, let her live. 

That’s horrible! How could someone want the baby boys killed?!

Dannah: I know, it’s sad, isn’t it? But there’s hope!

You see, the Bible tells us that because the midwives feared God, they refused to obey the king’s orders. They allowed the boys to live.

The new Pharaoh was one bad guy. But the midwives were courageous! They didn’t listen to Pharaoh because they knew God wouldn’t want them to do such an evil thing! Children are a blessing from God, not a threat.

Staci: Now wait a minute. Didn’t we just talk about how courage means living in faithful obedience? But the midwives were disobeying Pharaoh. Something doesn’t quite add up here.

Dannah: Well, you’re right, let’s dig into this a little more into the Word of God. 

Let me read Acts 5:29 to you: “We must obey God rather than any human authority.”

Staci: Ah, that makes sense. So, if someone who has authority here on earth is asking us to disobey God, we shouldn’t do it. Okay, True Girl, I repeat, do not disobey God even if someone tells you to! 

So, the Hebrew midwives were actually obeying God by disobeying that evil Pharaoh.

Dannah: That’s right. Very complicated but very accurate. 

The only problem is that when Pharaoh couldn’t get the midwives to do his dirty work for him, he hatched another evil plan to get rid of all the baby boys.

In Exodus 1:22, Pharaoh gave this order to his people saying: “Throw every newborn Hebrew boy into the Nile River, but you may let the girls live.”

If the Hebrew midwives wouldn’t kill the babies when they were born, Pharaoh hoped that his own people, the Egyptians, would drown their slaves’ babies in this very river. 

Staci: So that’s why it was so important for Miriam to babysit her little brother. The Egyptians were trying to kill all of the baby boys!

The thought of that just makes me feel sick! And the way this boat is rocking right now is not helping. Hopefully I don’t get seasick! Or would it be riversick, I dunno.

Dannah: Well, don’t worry, I think you’ll be alright! We don’t have much longer on our river cruise anyway. Then we can get some lunch, and you’re going to feel better. 

Anyway, Miraim’s baby brother, who was later named Moses, was at great risk! Any old Egyptian who found him was legally allowed to take him into the Nile River and drown him. 

When Moses’s mom could no longer hide him, because he grew too big, she put the baby in a basket and laid it among the . . . as you would call them the “corn dogs”. . . along the banks of the Nile River.

I mean can you imagine? It could have been right over there where Moses’ mom was hiding baby Moses. 

Staci: That’s crazy! Moses’ mom must have had a lot of faith. She literally put the baby in the exact spot where Pharaoh hoped all of the Hebrew babies would be killed. I’m pretty sure that it had more than goldfish in it too! I mean, there could be crocodiles under us right now! 

Dannah: Exactly. But Moses’ mom didn’t hide her baby far, far away from the Nile River, but right inside of it! I mean, think about what an act of faith that was! 

Now, Moses’ mom may have been the one to put her baby into that basket, but she wasn’t the one who stayed to watch him. Perhaps she had work to do. She was, after all, a slave. But, she assigned that task of babysitting Moses, to Miriam, her daughter, who was as far as we know a tween.

Staci, can’t you just picture her standing over there in the reeds looking out for her baby brother?

Staci: Yeah. 

Dannah: Some versions of the Bible say that was standing at a distance when she watched him. Maybe she stood at a distance because she didn’t want to attract attention to the spot where the basket was hiding. But I’m pretty sure Miriam was also afraid. I would be! But she didn’t let fear stop her from obeying her mother’s request to babysit her brother. 

Remember True Girl, courage is not the absence of fear. It’s obeying God and doing the right thing even when you feel afraid.

Now, if you can believe it, babysitting Moses in the very spot where Pharaoh wanted him to die was just the beginning of Miriam’s courage. You see, while she was standing there at a distance, probably a little afraid, one of Pharaoh's daughters, a princess of Egypt, happened to notice baby Moses in the river.

Oh no.

And that is when Miriam had to be even more courageous.

Staci, can you read Exodus 2:7–10 for us, so we can see what Miriam did. 

Staci: Yup!

Then the baby’s sister approached the princess. “Should I go and find one of the Hebrew women to nurse the baby for you?” she asked. “Yes, do!” the princess replied. So the girl went and called the baby’s mother. “Take this baby and nurse him for me,” the princess told the baby’s mother. “I will pay you for your help.” So the woman took her baby home and nursed him. Later, when the boy was older, his mother brought him back to Pharaoh’s daughter, who adopted him as her own son. The princess named him Moses, for she explained, “I lifted him out of the water.” 

Wow! Miriam had a lot of courage then, didn’t she? I mean, Miriam sees the princess notice her brother, and instead of running to hide, she steps up and says, “Uhm, excuse me. If you like that baby boy, I know someone who can help you take care of him.” And then she goes to get her mom! Miriam and her mom both risked their lives in order to protect baby Moses! Why? Because they wanted to obey God and protect the precious life of a baby!

Dannah: That’s right! But the fact is, Miriam really didn’t do anything extraordinary. She was simply living in faithful obedience to God and her mom.

Which leads us to our courage lesson of the day.

A courageous girl lives in faithful obedience. Now, what does all of this mean for you and me? Do you have any ideas about that, Staci?

Staci: Well, just like Miriam, we need to live in faithful obedience. This means that we need to obey God and do the things He calls us to do no matter what.

I think that the world Miriam and her mom lived in wasn’t that different from ours. They stood up for the lives of those baby boys. In the same way today, we have to stand up for life and love and family! It requires us to obey God and be courageous.

Hey True Girl, has there ever been a time in your life when it took courage to obey God? 

Dannah: Remember: courage is doing the right thing even when it is hard or you are afraid. Sometimes obeying God or others, like your mom and mad, can be difficult. But the right thing to do is to obey immediately with a happy heart, even if you’re at a friend’s house and they want to watch a movie that mom and dad have said “no” to (to go back to what you were discussing earlier today). 

Staci: You got that right, Dannah. So, I guess being courageous doesn’t mean doing something extraordinary after all! True courage is living in faithful obedience.

Dannah: That’s right, what an important lesson to learn. Now girls, why don’t you practice that this week and make sure to join us next week as we continue our quest for courage and explore another exciting destination.

Staci: Oh look, Dannah. We made it back to the boat dock! I think the tour is over.

Dannah: I think you’re right, Staci! You ready for lunch?

Staci: Yes! You think they sell corn dogs around here?

Dannah: Well, I don’t know, but let’s go find out!

Claire: What a good first lesson in courage: A courageous girl is obedient! Miriam’s courage did not begin with anything extraordinary. She was just obeying her mom by babysitting Moses. But her one act of obedience resulted in a display of courage that would be remembered thousands of years later.

If you enjoyed this courage quest, you’ll also love the True Girl subscription box. We deliver discipleship tools right to your front door! The box includes daily a mom+daughter date plan, memory verse cards, and more to teach the truth of the month. The box we’re shipping in November 2022 (until supplies run out) is The Shine Box! You can learn more about the True Girl subscription box at MyTrueGirl.com. That’s also where you can get a copy of Dannah Gresh’s Bible study on the life of Miriam.

Do you ever feel like God passed you up when he handed out courage? In next week’s episode, we’re going to find out that Miriam—this babysitter on a mission—wasn’t born courageous. So don’t worry if you feel like you need some training—so did she! Find out how she got it, next week in our quest for courage.

 

The True Girl podcast is produced by Revive Our Hearts calling women of all ages to freedom, fullness, and fruitfulness in Christ!

 

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