God Uses Disobedient Women

Where We Get Our Image of God

Scott opened with memories from his own upbringing, recalling how negative experiences shaped his young understanding of God. Without church or Christian models around him, he took those hurts and failures as proof that God must not love him or his mother.

"The only thing that I had to go by to understand God's love for me was the gauge that I was using was the experiences that I had in life and they tended to be very negative. So, I took it as that God didn't like me. He didn't love me and He must not love my mother and so, I became very angry with the Lord."

But as he started reading scripture as a skeptic, he was surprised to find that God had set up structures of care, parents, then neighbors, then the wider church, precisely because God knows that earthly caregivers might fail. Scott said this insight shifted him from anger toward God to awakening to the reality of God's persistent love.

"When I understood that He was trying to love me in spite of the shortcomings of my parents, that's when I knew that I had gotten the wrong picture of who Jesus Christ is. I knew He loved me."

The Church as God’s Family and a Place of Rescue

Scott connected his story to the calling of the church. He reminded us that walking into a church, especially for someone looking for hope, should feel like entering a taste of heaven, a loving, welcoming family. Wednesday nights, he noted, aren't just about activities; they're about creating that community for kids who need it most.

He invited us to see ourselves as those called to pour out grace and presence, especially for children weighed down or overlooked by the world. Grace is not limited to parental ties, it's the church's to offer as a body.

God’s Work in a Dangerous World

Turning our focus to Exodus, Scott placed the ancient story in the context of a world spinning out of control, with evil pressing down especially on the vulnerable. He drew clear lines: the cosmic conflict in scripture is ongoing, with God’s people at risk not just in ancient Egypt, but now.

"If we're coming to a time before Jesus Christ is about to return, you're going to be oppressed... The more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied and spread."

Scott emphasized that spiritual danger comes not just from without, but from within, the pull to compromise, to obey social pressures instead of God’s call. Obedience to God, he insisted, sometimes looks like disobedience to the prevailing culture.

Fear God Over Government: The Midwives’ Resistance

Scott focused on the Hebrew midwives, Shiphrah and Puah. When Pharaoh commanded them to kill male Hebrew babies, they refused, rooted in reverence for God above human rulers.

He pressed us to see the gravity of their choices: this was not abstract or safe. The women defied the most powerful ruler on earth, risking everything. He compared their courage to contemporary issues where believers feel squeezed by competing pressures, moral and political, but not to be confused.

"What we're finding in this passage then is you have these two midwives. This is interesting. This is like the government health care system... The king of Egypt said, 'Sort the babies as they're being born.'... The midwives then, they hear this and they're like, 'No way are we going to cross God.'"

Scott made plain that not every law or demand from human authorities is righteous, and the fear of the Lord, the deep awareness of God’s reality, frees us to stand apart when we must.

More Love Than Fear: Moses’ Mother and Courage

Scott next told the story of Moses’ mother: living under surveillance, knowing her baby’s life was at risk. Her actions, to hide the child, engineer a basket, trust God at the point of desperation, embodied a love stronger than fear.

"She says, 'Oh, I can’t kill this baby. I can’t do it.' Because now she's going to be disobedient. She’s saying, 'I love this baby. I can't kill this baby.' And so... she’s going to become an engineer... She puts this baby in there and she's like, 'I'm doing all that I can.'"

Scott illuminated her story with memories of his own mother’s quiet sacrifices, skipping meals so he could eat, patching his socks, doing whatever it took out of love. He challenged young parents and the wider church: our children are watching. They read the reality of God through the sacrifices and choices we make out of love or self-preservation.

He insisted that love, not fear, rules God’s people. In a world that values ease or protection of self, true obedience to God means letting love govern our actions, with all the risk and faith it requires.

Brave Love: Pharaoh’s Daughter and Unexpected Agents

Scott noticed that God’s rescue does not come only from the expected places. Pharaoh’s own daughter, the child of the system of oppression, responds to the suffering of the helpless baby. She sets aside her comfort and her place within the royal household’s expectations to save Moses, an act no less defiant in her own context.

"She opens this basket up, and she sees this baby crying and y'all she’s moved with sorrow for this child. This... is sorrow that's waking somebody up from their slumber. Waking somebody up who's been making all these plans that lead to nowhere. She's getting woken up."

Scott wondered aloud about how often we, too, can be so wrapped up in our own aspirations that we miss the moment God gives us to act with courage. Just as Pharaoh’s daughter pivoted in compassion, we are invited to let the reality of other people's suffering interrupt and redirect our lives.

Small Bravery: Miriam’s Watchful Risk

Scott nearly missed the part played by Miriam, Moses’ sister, the child who watched her brother’s fate unfold at the river. He lingered on the detail that this little girl was brave enough to approach Pharaoh’s daughter, the very person who should provoke the most fear, and offered practical help that changed history.

"She's watching to see what's going to happen... she sees a little bit of hope. She's thinking probably maybe there's a chance here... She walks up to this woman and she says, 'You know something, I can find you somebody to nurse this baby.'"

Scott drew this forward to our daily lives: sometimes, brave faith looks like doing the small thing you can, stepping in, speaking up, offering a word or an action when it seems least likely to matter. God uses small faith and small bravery in ordinary people.

Community Responsibility and the Call to Adopt

Throughout, Scott returned to the wider calling, insisting that the work of rescue, of loving overlooked or endangered children, belongs to all of us. He said plainly: adoption is just one picture. We’re called to embrace and support others’ children as if they are our own. Our willingness to set aside comfort, ambitions, and self-protection is the mark of God’s people in times like these.

"If we're going to be that community that's going to rescue kids like me, we got to do it. We got to do it. We're compelled. And listen, if you're not brave, if you're not willing to stand on your faith, and take a chance, see the opportunities for God to do something through any action that you have, even if you feel like this is not a good idea, like that little girl probably thought, you do it anyway. Go by faith."

Scott closed with a plea for us to examine ourselves: whether we are simply going along with the world’s way, or willing to be bravely disobedient for the sake of love and the next generation. He warned that too many in the church are content to hide, to prioritize comfort, or to avoid risk, but reminded us that faithful obedience often looks like disobedience to what is expected.

Living It Out

This week, we are invited to step into the world with the kind of courageous love that chooses God’s way above social pressure. Whether we are parents, aunts, uncles, or simply part of this church family, we can pray for the alertness to see when love calls us beyond fear, into sacrifice, hospitality, advocacy, or support of those whom God loves. Ask for a heart like Miriam’s, like Moses’s mother, like the midwives: to see where hope is possible, and to act in faith, even when doing so may look foolish in the world’s eyes.

Discussion Questions

1. Where in your own story, or the story of our church, have you seen someone’s brave, unexpected action shape the faith or rescue of others?
2. What does it look like to respond in love rather than fear when society or culture pushes an agenda that contradicts the way of Jesus?
3. Which “small” opportunities have you noticed lately that might be God nudging you to step in and care for someone beyond your family?