Lesson 9: Miriam

Did you ever see the Prince of Egypt? That was a while back, but it is the beautiful story of the life of Moses. The clip you watched shows Moses' sister, Miriam watching over the baby as he floated down the river. Miriam was a young girl with a big job, not to mention watching out for crocodiles. Can you imagine first of all putting your baby brother in a basket and sending him down the river in hopes the ladies of royalty would save him  and then having to dodge crocodiles. You see, the Egyptians were killing the male Jews during this time and Moses was in danger. Miriam's courage and boldness not only saved Moses life, but allowed him to live in the palace with his mother and sister taking care of him.

Most people forget about Miriam after the baby in the basket part, but read on in Exodus 14:21-31. Miriam was there when Moses parted the Red Sea for the Israelites to cross and the river drowned the Egyptians. In Exodus 15: 20 it says she was a prophetess and she was a role model for women. She led them in praise and worship. Wow! Miriam continued to grow in her faith through the years. Are you closer to God today than when you were younger?

Want to be a leader? Here are three traits of Miriam you can follow:
1) Be faithful in little. Be faithful in any task God has for you and in the day to day living we have to do. God will bless you with more opportunities to lead when you are faithful in the small things.
2) Live a life of praise. This means not just on Sunday, but everyday giving praise to God.
3) Lead others to God. We lead others because we are following the Lord ourselves.

Everyone makes mistakes. Miriam was a typical woman.. she had problems with her mouth. It is so easy to say the wrong thing or say too much. Miriam criticized Moses and his new wife. God grew angry and gave Miriam leprosy. It seems like a pretty severe consequence to running her mouth, but it is an important lesson for all of us. When we are concerned with something we need to take it straight to God in prayer, rather than discussing it with everyone we meet, or even just our close friends. Since we as ladies love to talk, we quickly can find ourselves becoming critical of others or passing on stories that don't build others up. This lesson speaks straight to the heart of us talkers.. that even when we have grown a lot in the Lord, we have to constantly be on guard about our mouths. We have to stay in prayer so that God can guide our thoughts and words.

As a happy note, Miriam was healed after a week and let back into the camp. The Israelites were then able to move again toward the Promised Land. God loves us so much that he does discipline us. What have you learned from the life of Miriam? What a great example of God's love and grace for us even when we fail him.