Moses’ mother Yocheved secretly placed him in a basket in the Nile River. He was discovered by Pharaoh’s daughter, Bitya, who adopted him. Bitya employed Yocheved as Moses’ wet nurse, and thus Moses grew up in his family’s household. Yocheved kept Moses at home, so he joined Pharaoh’s household only at age 12 or so. Pharaoh knew that Moses was a Jew, but he hoped that by raising him as an Egyptian, his exceptional intelligence and talents could be put to good use in Pharaoh’s government. When Moses was about 18 years old, he saw an Egyptian taskmaster beating a Jew mercilessly, and killed the taskmaster. As Moses feared, Pharaoh heard of this and sentenced him to death.
In G‑d We Trust
וַיִּשְׁמַע פַּרְעֹה אֶת הַדָּבָר הַזֶּה וגו': (שמות ב:טו)
Pharaoh heard about the incident. Exodus 2:15

Moses should have trusted in G‑d’s protection, but because he did not, he forfeited it. Pharaoh therefore heard about the incident and sought to kill him. Had Moses not been afraid – and not voiced this fear – nothing would have happened.

Similarly, when we face obstacles in fulfilling our Divine mission, we should realize that we can earn G‑d’s helpful intervention by trusting that He will help us. Feeling confident of G‑d’s help does not mean that we should not take whatever natural steps are necessary to avoid trouble or to solve our problems; it merely means that we should trust G‑d to crown our efforts with success.

Our sages teach us that it was in the merit of their confidence in G‑d that the Jews were delivered from Egypt. Similarly, our confidence that G‑d will redeem us from the present exile will itself hasten the Redemption.1