The Quiet Woman.

The woman hustled, bustled, fussed and cleaned around her little home in preparation for the night time routines. She lived under the care of her brother for she was, as yet, unmarried. And by day she worked as a servant in one of the lower houses of an Egyptian official.

When she got home to her little shanty town house every evening there was nothing much left to do except prepare for going back to work early the next morning. And so she hustled and bustled, fussed and cleaned the same way she did every night.

As she was blowing out the lanterns for the evening she heard a knock on the little rustic, wooden door. Looking around at the other servants that she shared this little home with, she was struck with fear. No one raps on doors at this time of night very often. And when someone’s door was rapped a servant girl, or woman, was taken away to do some horrible night time tasks that no one spoke about. The rap sounded again. Not loud and demanding, but a soft knock as if someone was making enquiries.

One of the other women moved towards the door and called out, “Who’s there?” There was no reply.

“Who’s there?”, the woman called out again. An elderly man’s voice responded softly, “I am looking for Miriam, the daughter of Amram and Jochebed”. The servant women looked around at Miriam. Miriam’s face was struck with horror.

“Miriam. Does Miriam live here, please?” the old man’s voice quietly said.

“Who wants her?” one of the woman replied. “Please”, responded the voice quietly. “I mean you no harm. I just want to speak with Miriam, the daughter of Amram and Jochebed. Does she live here?”

Miriam looked at the other women with fear and confusion. “Who here in this village knows me? Who knows the names of my family?” She was terrified, and yet curious. If it had have been an Egyptian official they would have been more insistent and demanding. Or perhaps even just kicked the door in. But this person’s voice was more gentle.

“Who are you?” called Miriam. “What do you want with me?”

“Miriam? Is that you? Please open the door. I must speak with you urgently”. The other women huddled protectively around Miriam as the door was slowly opened. An old man stooped low to enter the doorway and come into the light. And although he stooped to get under the doorway he didn’t straighten up again for he was bent over due to a life of hardship and hard work.
He stepped a pace into the room and removed the hood of his rough woollen cloak. His eyes looked around the room and settled immediately on Miriam. He took a step further into the room, looked straight into her eyes, smiled, and said “Hello Miriam”.

Miriam stood rooted to the spot. She couldn’t breathe. She wanted to collapse but her legs were rigid and she couldn’t move at all. She tried to speak. Tried to call out a long forgotten name.

She looked straight into the eyes of the stranger, and then suddenly she gasped, “Moses?”

Miriam felt as if she was seeing a dead person standing in front of her. Her brother, Moses, had disappeared forty years before. And now here he was standing in front of her. This man was older, rougher looking, and slightly bent with weariness and hard work. But when she looked directly into his eyes – Yes. This was definitely Moses.

She cried out his name and rushed forward to hug him. Moses wrapped his arms around her and held her tightly. “Yes Miriam, it’s me”. “Oh, Moses”, Miriam cried. “We thought you had died, or ran away. We didn’t know where you had gone.” She sobbed.

Moses held Miriam tightly and softly said “I know, I know”.

Then Miriam suddenly became afraid. She looked past Moses as if looking for Pharaoh’s police guards. Her thoughts suddenly returned to those nights almost forty years before when her home was overturned and ransacked.

“Where’s Moses!!!” the Palace Guards screamed. Miriam looked around wondering what had happened. “Moses?” she replied? “Moses lives at the Palace. He doesn’t live here”, she said. The Palace Guards wrecked the house and pulled down the little shanty roof anyway.

Two young men entered the little house behind Moses and bowed with their greetings. “These are my sons Gershom and Eliezer”, said Moses.

“Welcome. Welcome. Come in and sit”. Miriam called out to one of the other servant girls, “Go to the fields and get Aaron. Tell him to come quickly”.

“No,” said Moses. “Leave it until the morning. It will attract too much attention if he left the flocks right now. The morning will do”.

Miriam sat down at the table near Moses. “Oh, Moses. Where have you been? What has happened since you went away. We thought you were dead. We had a funeral and everything”.

“All in good time”, relied Moses. “We have much to prepare for. YahWeh is beginning to move and we must be ready”.

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Sometimes we reach a point in our lives when God will bring someone to our recollection who we thought were a distant part of our memory. In truth, God is never really finished with us and our lives are always in a constant state of growing, worship and praise to His name.

And we must always be open to react to unexpected encounters in our lives when God decrees it. For we are all one Body in Christ. And we are all knit together in His name.

To quote Pastor Alistair Begg…"God has stitched together all of the elements of our past, separate and distinct as they are, to nudge and guide us to who and where we are right now."

Always be ready to respond to a call from God, whether separated by distance or time. God can call on us at any time.