Personal power lies within all of us and it does not come from prestige or titles. We have the ability to use our influence in a way that builds into others lives instead of tearing them down.
Two women in the book of Exodus, Shiphrah and Puah were women of remarkable courage who risked their lives by choosing life instead of the death for children they were instructed to kill.
Over history, there are countless leaders who because of fear of losing what they have resorted to taking away from others. One such leader was Pharaoh, who so feared the growing population of the Israelites and a potential uprising, that he ordered the Hebrew midwives to kill any male newborns at birth.
When the King saw that there were so many male babies, he interrogated the midwives about it. Shiphrah and Puah replied that the Israelite women were very lively and managed to give birth before the midwives had arrived.
In Exodus, we are told that God blessed the midwives and provided households for them.
The frustrated, Pharoah then commanded his people to cast every son born, into the river. But Moses, a future great leader of the Israelites, was spared by the courage of his mother and sister.
What lessons can we learn from Shiphrah and Puah?
Lesson 1: Know what your value system is before your test come
Shiphrah and Puah were midwives. Their purpose was to help guide women through childbirth. As a mother knows labour is true to its name. It is hard work and painful. In those days there were no epidurals. The pain can be excruciating and as each birth is different, there is no way of knowing how long it will continue. Midwives were a source of guidance, encouragement and help for women going through the gruelling process of bringing life into the world. This was work that you needed to be "called" to do. Shiphrah and Puah had to bring life into the world, not take it. When you know your purpose and your value system, when trials come, the choice does not need to be made. It is part of you.
Lesson 2: Be in Touch with your own humanity and those of others.
No doubt they watched their fair share of deaths. The mother's whose endurance ran out. The mother's who haemorrhaged and bled out completely. The new stillborn infants, who caused their mothers unbearable suffering at the loss of the baby and who had the torment of a body that needed healing, with the added emotional anguish of loss. While some people can cut themselves off from emotional pain, those who have the strength to be vulnerable, with find the courage to help the vulnerable. Shiphrah and Puah's humanity would not allow them to obey the king's orders.
Lesson 3: Learn to Manage your Fear
No one is immune to fear. Fear is an emotion designed to keep us safe. To keep us from making choices that can harm us. Whenever there is a threat, fear emerges to help us through the process. We fear looking bad, we fear failure. We fear injury, we fear death. A Pharoah has seen as a God by Egyptians and held the power of life and death over his subjects. Shiphrah and Puah were two politically powerless women who risked their lives to protect the children that God had placed in their care. I have no doubt that this civil disobedience would have created tremendous fear in their hearts. Yet, they found the courage to go through with their plan. Anything worthwhile in your life will require some risk. Learn to manage your fear by deciding if this fear is an instinctive involuntary response, or if it merely a guide to let you know that you have to have a strategy for managing the risk.
Lesson 4: Choose who to share your vision with
We know that there were Egyptians who went along with the plan of throwing the male infants into the river. Not because they were monsters, but because they feared the Pharoah's, retaliation for disobedience. For Shiphrah and Puah they would have had to be very careful with whom they chose to share their vision. If people knew they had an active plan for disobedience, they would have been put to death. Your dreams can easily be out to death if you choose to share a vision with people who can not appreciate vision.
Lesson 5: Your courage leads the way for a great legacy
Shiphrah and Puah could not have known that name, Moses. In fact, they probably did not get to witness the nation that was lead to the promised land by this great man. What we do know is that when someone is prepared to stand up often alone for what is right, others will begin to stand up as well. Your choices can be the catalyst for great change.
What I have learned from Shiphrah and Puah is that we need to know what our value system is, be willing to be vulnerable, choose our teams and let courage help us to stand up for what is right. In doing so, we can be can create meaningful change and progress.
Read about Shiphrah and Puah in Exodus: 1: 15 -20
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