“Therefore God dealt well with the midwives: and the people multiplied, and waxed very mighty. And it came to pass, because the midwives feared God, that he made them houses.”
God never said that doing the right thing would always be easy.
The midwives found this out the hard way, but they also found out that God rewards the individual who does right. Pharaoh made a decree that every male child was to be killed at birth. How evil it is to kill children, whether in the womb or when they are immediately born. One has to wonder about the mindset of people who think it is okay to kill helpless babies in the womb or at birth. It was this type of mindset that the midwives were up against. They knew that doing the right thing with a king who had no care for human life could cost their freedom or life, but that didn’t stop them from saving the male babies when they were born.
The verse above says, “Therefore God dealt well with the midwives…” The result of the midwives doing right was that God dealt well with them, and He “made them houses.” It was their action of doing right when right was unpopular and unlawful that caused God to deal well with them.
We love to hear that God is going to bless the believer, but we don’t like to hear that doing right in hard times comes before God’s blessing. We want God’s blessings without hardships, but His blessings come because of doing right in spite of the hardships. We want God to deal well with us, but He never blesses without a “therefore” in your life. What you do with what God wants you to do in hardships that determines whether there is going to be a “therefore” in your life.
My friend, there is no blessing without sacrifice. It was not the most popular thing to keep the male babies alive, but the midwives were not doing right because it was popular, but they did right because it was the right thing to do. These midwives were willing to sacrifice their reputation, popularity, freedom, and even their lives for the sake of doing right, and that is what brought God’s favor on them. You will never see God’s favor on your life without sacrifice. You can’t have the acceptance of the world and favor of God at the same time. Having God’s favor means you obeyed Him, which will bring you into disfavor with the world. Don’t expect God to deal well with you if you are not willing to sacrifice all for Him.
Moreover, there is no blessing without obedience. These midwives didn’t flaunt their obedience to God so that they could be recognized by the news media of their day, but they obeyed God because it was the right thing to do. These midwives did right when others crumbled. Don’t miss this, there were some midwives who didn’t save the male children alive, but the midwives that God dealt well with were the only ones who did right. Doing right often causes you to have to deal with great pressure, but you must not crumble under the pressure of doing right if you want God to bless you.
The key as to why these midwives did right is found where it says, “the midwives feared God.” Fearing God is the only thing that is going to keep you doing right when the result of doing right could cause you to lose your freedom and life. Fearing man more than God is when you will crumble under the pressures of man’s ordinances that dictate that you don’t obey God. Doing right isn’t always easy, but God will deal well with you if you will do right in the face of man’s pressure to get you not to obey God. My friend, do right, not because it is easy and popular, but because it is right.
