Exodus 1:17 (NLT), “But because the midwives feared God, they refused to obey the king’s orders...”

When the king of Egypt ordered two Hebrew midwives to kill every Hebrew baby boy they helped to deliver, they made a choice to fear God instead of man. Their refusal to follow Pharaoh's genocidal instructions, may have been the first known incident of civil disobedience in history! One modern day theologian called these two women, "the earliest, and in some ways the most powerful, examples, of resistance to an evil regime". These women wisely, didn’t refuse the king’s orders to his face. If they did, he would have had them killed and simply executed his order through more willing and obedient candidates. Instead, they came up with a story to convince the king they fully attempted to carry out his orders, but the plan failed. This way they would prevent their deaths as well as an entire generation of male, Hebrew babies. In verse 19 of Exodus 1, the midwives gave this excuse to the king: “Because the Hebrew women are not like the Egyptian women: they are vigorous. Before the midwife can come to them, they have given birth.” As a reward, the Lord dealt well with the midwives and established households for them, because they feared Him! The Bible has many accounts where people deliberately went against the authority of the land to obey God, at the risk of losing their lives. The three Hebrew men who refused to bow down to the Babylonian king ended up turning the rule of the entire nation to benefit the Hebrew captives. In Daniel 3:29, the king said, “I make this decree: If any people, whatever their race or nation or language, speak a word against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, they will be torn limb from limb, and their houses will be turned into heaps of rubble. There is no other god who can rescue like this!” Resolve to choose to fear God and not man before an occasion arises where you are faced with having to make that choice. Knowing full well that God will be very present to witness your decision and back it with His reward. (Psalm 147:11).