So I have been having some pretty awesome quiet times lately and I wanted to share one of them I found extremely impactful…I hope it helps you and gives you encouragement and hope…Bless you my friends and loved ones
Yes in Exodus we have a song for Moses but there is also a song for Miriam and I found myself asking why? Why is she identified in the Word as a prophetess? Although she was the eldest sister of Aaron and Moses; why did the women seem to follow her lead?
What a loving older sibling she was to Moses, waiting in the reeds by the river to make sure he survived. Arranging for a nurse maid (their own mother) to help the Pharaoh’s daughter raise Moses. Upon the death of the Pharaoh and his men, Miriam led the Israelite women in a victory song and dance and it is pro-ported that a well of fresh water followed the Israelites throughout their time in the desert until Miriam’s death.
Miriam also had her faults. She led her brother Aaron to speak against Moses in a discrepancy regarding a Cushing woman Moses had married (Numbers 12:1) and even questioning together their brothers monopoly over divine communication (Numbers 12:2). For this Miriam was punished with tzaaras (leprosy…Numbers12:10). But Aaron and Moses plead for her and she is healed. However just like her brothers she too dies in the desert before reaching the promised land (Numbers 20:1).
Miriam not only lived to see her childhood prophecy fulfilled but together with her brother she was one of 3 devoted shepherds of her people throughout their 40 years in the desert…she is a pretty amazing woman to study.
According to Jewish history Miriam was part of the faith filled contingency of Jewish women slaves who led by example to never lose faith that God’s promises of freedom would one day come to fruition. although she felt pain acutely, she would not succumb to fear or despair. She was exposed to abject cruelty yet she would not yield to moral corruption or apathy. Bravely and resolutely she kept vigilant watch over her faith with eternal hope in the promise of redemption. This gives my soul such encouragement :)
When I think of Miriam I am reminded of my own childhood. Not the slavery but the concept of having little to no control of the depraved individuals who were master over me. Feeling pain, while at the same time rebelling over its overpowering hold to discover a seed of faith; with a yearning deep within my heart.
Many years later Miriam and these Israelite women left their homes in such a hurry that the bread for the day hadn’t finished rising yet they remembered to bring timbrels (tambourines) with them…why? What were these women thinking? These women who have seen affliction beyond the human breaking point. What is on the hearts of these women who bore too much anguish to fathom? What do their worn tired, beaten bodies carry out of Egypt? Tambourines! Instruments with which to sing and praise God for the miracles they knew would come to be…
Engulfed in misery the women and Miriam never lost vision. Just like Miriam they found more - their own spirit of rebellion against depression; a natural outgrowth of their shared circumstances. Against apathy and hopelessness which are also easily accepted outgrowths but instead found the strength to fortify themselves and never lose hope. Amidst agony these women prepared tambourines. Fanning the spark of yearning within their souls until it grew into an inextinguishable flame of faith. As bitter as their lives became-their faith grew stronger! A feminine strength born out of bitterness. A faith sewn amidst despair. This is not only the strength of Miriam and the Israelite women who left Egypt but each and every one of us. We too can be equipped with tambourines and dance with Joy because of our Faith!
I love you dear friends and family and am looking forward to dancing with you in the rain…
weathering storms together and celebrating all that this life has to offer despite pain, slavery, apathy, depravity and a simple lack of love.
Let’s help each other to make our own tambourines so that we too can sing and dance in Joy before the Lord!
Love Always & Forever, Your Sister in Christ Lori L
