Mother had worked hard with her little girl in teaching her a part for a church program.
The little girl had gone over it again and again, but when she stood up in front of people
her mouth went dry and her mind went blank. She did not know what to say. Her
mother sat in the front and tried to calm her, and she tried to help by forming the
opening words on her lips. Nothing happened, but finally in desperation she whispered,
“I am the light of the world.” Immediately the girl’s face lit up and in confidence she
began, “My mother is the light of the world.”
We want to look at a mother who was indeed a light in a world of darkness. Jochebed
was the mother of Moses, and like many mothers she is only known because of her
children. Everything was against her being a good mother. Her husband was a little
more than a slave. Pharaoh had made it so that men could get no education and had to
do hard labor, and they had no political rights in Egypt. He made it miserable for all the
Jews, and he decreed that all boy babies were to be cast into the Nile. Miriam was
between 13 and 15 and Aaron was between 3 and 5, and so they were safe, but Jochebed
was expecting another child.
She must have hoped it would be a girl, for then it would be no problem, but God’s
plans do not always call for a life with no problems, and so she gave birth to a boy. It
was, in a sense, a twin birth, for not only a great man but a great mother was born that
day. We will see this as we see the way she handled the problem and the results of her
wisdom. We will see her greatness as we focus on 3 aspects of her mothering.
I. HER WISDOM.
She knew it was better to obey God than man. Her mother love refused to obey the
law of wicked Pharaoh. To him a baby was only a little enemy to be gotten rid of before
he became stronger. Like all powers of evil he worked in sheer brute force. One thing he
forgot, however, and that is that babies have mothers, and a mother’s love is stronger
than evil. Guided by the wisdom of God a mother’s love can outwit the devil himself. It
was through motherhood that God would send His Son into the world to defeat Satan.
God has found a faithful mother in Jochebed and through her he will raise up a
deliverer. The book of Hebrews says she acted in faith to save her child. She trusted that
this child was given her by God for more than crocodile food.
William James said a baby is, “A bundle of possibilities.” Jochebed felt this was the
case for her baby boy. She vowed that no Pharaoh was going to make her give up her
baby. The very fact that Pharaoh wanted to get rid of babies is a testimony to the power
of motherhood. With the right mother a baby can grow up and be a overwhelming force
for good, and that is why evil forces become baby killers. It must have been very hard
hiding a baby like she did. The tension must have been beyond endurance, and she
realized she could not go on hiding the child, but she was not going to give it up. How she
must have prayed as she worked out her plan. Things looked dark, but she faced the
dark future with the light of faith.
Sometimes you wonder about God’s timing. For 400 years Israel was in Egypt, and
God waits until Pharaoh orders all boy babies to be killed to bring the deliverer onto the
stage of history. God obviously loves a challenge, and He loves to see His people face up
to one and gain the victory. He deliberately develops a context of great danger. He knew
Jochebed would be a great mother, for that was the only hope for the survival of Moses.
She could have surrendered to the inevitable and obeyed this vicious law, as did many
other mothers, but by faith she decided to buck the system. She took the same radical
and paradoxical approach that God took. If He was going to give her a boy at just the
worst possible time, she, in turn, would hide that baby in the very spot where they were
drowning the babies-right on the river’s brink.
Logic would tell you that if babies are being thrown into the river it would be wise to
take the baby as far from that danger as possible, but the wisdom of a mother if often not
logical, but, nevertheless, effective. She hid him by the river.
We see two truths that are worth noting. 1. Tension, anxiety and problems may come
into a home, and into the life of a mother in the very plan of God to call forth the best in
her. Do you have the eye of faith that sees purpose even in problems, or do you let them
defeat you and drag you down? 2. God does not hand down a copy of the plan to be
followed-not even a poor carbon copy. He works within the very thinking of Jochebed.
She had to think up the plan herself with all the wisdom she had, and then go ahead in
faith not knowing the outcome. When we have done our best God will do the rest, and in
His providence work out all things for the good of those who love Him and are called
according to His purpose.
We notice that faith uses means. You don’t say, “I have faith that God will work it
out,” and then do nothing. Faith without works is dead. Faith says that God will work
out what I do. It is blind faith that says I will do nothing and trust God to do it for me.
Faith does not say I don’t have to bother to put pitch in the basket. If it gets knocked
into the river God will preserve the baby. That is not faith, but it is presumption. A
mother’s wisdom is that wisdom that says I must do those things that must be done and
can be done by me, and then leave the results to God.
She made her ark of papyrus and sealed it with pitch. She put it in a place where she
knew the daughter of Pharaoh bathed. It was a religious duty to bathe in the sacred Nile.
When the daughter discovered the baby Moses cried and won her heart. He was already
a leader with powerful influence as a baby. The wisdom of Jochebed is again apparent at
this point, for she let her teenage girl Miriam help out in this serious plan. It is a wise
mother who recognizes the capacity of her teenagers and makes them a vital part of
family plans. Miriam proved herself, and in obedience to her mother became an
important link in God’s plan to deliver Israel. I wonder if that ever occurred to a
teenager that obedience to one’s mother may be a necessary step in God’s will for their
life. Here was a mother and daughter team that God was using to change the course of
history.
Miriam approached the daughter of Pharaoh at an opportune time realizing the
childless princess would need a nurse, and she volunteered to find her one. When the
princess agreed, she ran to get her mother. With a pounding heart from both fear and
excitement Jochebed trying to control her emotions ran to the princess and received
back her baby boy. Her wisdom had paid off. Here was a mother who ranks up there
near Solomon for her wisdom. Next we see-
II. HER WORK.
What a thrill to clasp to her breast that rescued treasure. Moses was not only safe,
but by the grace of God he was back in his mother’s care. God realized how important
those early years were for a child. She only had him for 3 or 4 years at the most, and
some might feel that little can be done in that short time, but she had him for those years
when love and security determine so much of the personality of a child. The first and
most enduring ideas of God come from parents. Modern psychologists tell us that what a
mother does with her child in the first 3 or 4 years establishes attitudes and
characteristics of the mind that influence a person’s relationships and behavior the rest
of his life.
Francis W. Parker, a distinguished Chicago educator, finished a lecture and a
woman asked, “How early can I begin the education of my child?” Parker asked, “When
will your child be born?” She responded, “Why he is already 5 years old.” He cried,
“My goodness, you have already lost the best 5 years.” So important is the mother to a
child that in most cases the will to live is lost without the mother. It can be a nurse or
anyone, but without the love and security of a motherly nature a baby will begin to die.
The most important work of a mother is love. The Jews had a saying that God could not
be everywhere, and so He made mothers. Written into the very nature of man is the need
for love, and all men can see something of the love of God in the love of a mother.
Jochebed recognized this, and also the basic truth that to raise a well adjusted child
who is yet ignorant of God is to fail as a mother. She received her child from Pharaoh’s
daughter for only awhile, but it is true that all children are only given to our care for
awhile. If only we could see it and realize how soon they will be in Pharaoh’s palace, and
if we have not prepared them they will certainly fall into the trap of pleasure and sin.
Better that he be eaten by crocodiles than to live without God. Any mother who can
launch her child into the treacherous current of modern life without the compass of faith
in God to guide is failing as a mother.
Jochebed not only nursed his body but filled him with the milk of the Word. We can
only assume that there was continued contact even after he was given back to the
princess, for there was so much to teach him that he could not learn as a young child.
She, no doubt, continued to have an influence in his life all the years he was growing up in
the palace.
Mother’s Day is a day of praise and poetry of mothers, but not just for motherhood
in itself. Just to physically bear children is a wonder, but not worthy of honor in itself,
for we all know a mother can have a total neglect of her children, and even sacrifice them
for her own pleasure. Many of those ungrateful goats at the day of judgment will be
mothers. Mothers can lose all the blessings of motherhood by self-centeredness.
Jochebed was child-centered and not self-centered, for she took great risks for the sake
of her child. She realized that a child can be the tool that God uses to change the future
for good, and so she gave her all for the sake of making her baby the best possible
instrument for God to use. That is the goal of all mothers who want to be tools in the
hands of God. You sacrifice for the sake of your child, but it is also for the sake of the
kingdom of God.
Marrow Coffee Graham, the mother of Billy Graham said, “When God and His Word
are given their rightful place in the home it is then that we who are mothers have in some
measure discharged our responsibility to those God has given us. Then, and only then,
can we look at our children and at the future with confidence.” Not all faithful mother
are raising a Moses or a Billy Graham, but all are great mothers, for, like Jochebed, they
are doing the work which makes anyone great, and that is the work of imparting the
knowledge of God to children.
III. HER WAGES
Is motherhood all sacrifice and no reward? No, for nothing done in God’s will is
without its reward. The wages Jochebed received was not the wages she got from
Pharaoh’s daughter. This just shows us the humor of God, for out of Pharaoh’s treasury
is coming the support for the very child who will one day be used of God to set His people
free from Pharaoh. Pharaoh is subsidizing the person planning his defeat. On the basis
of this we can conclude that even a sinner’s money can be used for the purpose of God.
Jochebed did not receive her wages in silver and gold, but in the same currency
which she gave, and that was life. She gave of herself, and the only adequate payment can
be found in the results of the life of her child. She cannot be satisfied with anything less
than what she has worked and prayed for. Her son is in the best possible position for a
good education and power, but it would all be for nothing if he was not committed to
God. Jochebed received her wages when the test came in the life of Moses to choose the
pleasure and treasure of Egypt, or to choose to be afflicted with the children of God.
Moses chose to go with God’s people, and in this was her riches.
Only a mother’s children can pay her the wages she desires. All other gifts without
the gift of a child’s love are futile and inadequate. One of the greatest historical
examples is that of a brilliant teacher of Rhetoric who was rebellious at his mother’s
religion. Monica prayed and grieved over the sinful life of her son, but the day came
when she received a hundred fold in wages. Her son Augustine not only became a
Christian, but he dedicated his life and ability to the extent that he became recognized as
the greatest influence in the church since the Apostle Paul. He had continued to
influence the church right up to the present day. This is a mother’s greatest wage if she
is a wise mother doing the work God has ordained for her to do. A mother’s greatest
wage is not what her children give her, but what her children become.
May God challenge every mother to live up to this ideal: “The magic words of our
language are Jesus, home and mother. But until the stars are old, and the sun grows
cold, and the leaves of the judgment book unfold, no one will ever know the full measure
of service the mothers of earth have constantly, faithfully, and lovingly rendered to their
children.” A hundred years from now it will not matter what you fed your family, or
what you made them wear, but for all eternity it will matter that you were a mother of
faith. And the greatest thing any child can do for their mother is to be answer to her
life’s labor and love, and her prayers by being that person she prayed you would be.
There is no higher honor for a mother than to have children who trust in Jesus Christ
and give their life in service to Him. By so doing you make your mother a great mother.
