“The midwives feared God and did not do as the king of Egypt commanded them, but saved the male children alive” (Exodus 1:17).
When she refused to give up her bus seat to a white passenger, she was arrested and thrown in an Alabama jail. It led to a court case that ruled Montgomery’s segregated bus system was un-constitutional. The bus driver told her to give up her seat, but she wouldn’t budge. “It’s my constitutional right to sit here as much as that lady. I paid my fare,” she explained. “I felt like Sojourner Truth was pushing down on one shoulder and Harriet Tubman was pushing down on the other—saying, ‘Sit down girl!’ I was glued to my seat.”
Most people think of Rosa Parks’ famous protest in the civil rights movement, but nine months earlier, Claudette Colvin, who was only fifteen years old, was coming home from school when she refused to give up her bus seat. The teenage girl sat in jail for several hours before her pastor paid her bail. Her case was almost used to challenge segregation laws but was dropped because of her age. Her attorney later said, “Claudette gave all of us moral courage. If she had not done what she did, I am not sure that we would have been able to mount the support for Mrs. Parks.”
Two other women, barely known in the Bible, once stood up against the Pharaoh of Egypt. Shiphrah and Puah were midwives who were commanded by an unnamed ruler to kill all baby boys after birth. They refused. Twice they stood before the mighty ruler. The two midwives put God’s commands over human threats. “Therefore, God dealt well with the midwives, and the people multiplied and grew very mighty. And so it was, because the midwives feared God, that he provided households for them” (Exodus 1:20, 21).
No matter how unknown you might be in the world, your name shines brightly in heaven when you stubbornly obey the Lord.
Dear Lord, today I choose to obey Your commands when they conflict with human laws.
