What Can I Learn from the Mothers of Moses? A mom of the Bible devotional that changed the lives of two women.
LISTEN TO THIS PODCAST EPISODE HERE
Last month, the moms of the Bible devotional was on the Hebrew midwives and how they feared God more than man. When Pharaoh told them to kill all the male Hebrew babies at birth, they did not listen and saved the babies instead, showing great faith and courage!
After this, in Exodus 1:22, we see Pharaoh made things even worse for God’s people, who were enslaved in Egypt. Things got so bad, that Pharaoh commanded, “Every Hebrew son who was born was to be cast into the Nile river.”
Can you imagine the horror of this?! As a mom of two boys, I don’t even like to think about it!
Knowing this background information, let’s focus on the Mothers of Moses: Jochebed and the daughter of Pharaoh. These 2 women had nothing more in common than their love for the same baby boy: Moses.
When you hear the name, “Moses,” you probably think of stories like the Red Sea parting or God giving him the 10 commandments, but behind this great leader, were these two moms: Jochebed and the daughter of Pharaoh. Both of these women had a big part to play to help raise Moses, so he could grow up and help save God’s people!
In Exodus 2, Jochebed hid Moses for 3 months after he was born and when she could no longer hide him, she took an ordinary basket made from reeds that grew by the river and coated it with tar to make it waterproof. She must have been a wise woman, knowing the basket would be well hidden by the reeds of the river bank, being made by the very same reeds.
Jochebed was also courageous, because she was risking her own life to save the life of her son! First, by hiding him against Pharaoh’s commands and then trusting God with faith over fear when having to place her precious baby boy into a basket, in the very river that should have been his death place, just to keep him alive!
The Bible says that Moses’ sister stayed by the riverbanks to watch what would happen to her little brother. Realizing, of course, it was not by chance that Pharaoh’s daughter went to bathe at this very same time and saw the basket…
When she found a Hebrew baby boy crying inside, she could have thrown him into the river right there, if she would have listened to her own father’s commands, but she didn’t! She showed compassion and became a part of this story God was weaving together to save His people! It’s unlikely Pharaoh’s daughter even knew the Lord, but still God chose to use her anyways.
Moses’ sister witnessed all of this happening and asked Pharaoh’s Daughter if she wanted her to find a Hebrew woman to nurse the baby? Knowing all along, it would be Moses’ mother Jochebed. So once again, we see God’s faithfulness here, that Jochebed was paid to nurse her own child…that’s a pretty sweet deal!
Side Note: I did a little research and found that moms in Bible time, nursed their children until they were about 2-3 years old. So I always like to imagine the sweet bedtime prayers and the songs Jochebed must have sang over Moses rocking him late at night in those few sweet years she had with him…knowing God must have a BIG plan for his life to have spared him!
So what can you and I learn from the moms in this story?
2 Things:
- Remember sometimes you have to step out into the water with courage and faith. It’s not easy to choose faith over fear in our parenting, but we have to learn to trust God, even when we don’t know the outcome.
- You won’t always know the answer to every hard question you child asks, you won’t always be a perfect role model or know everything there is to know about the next stage of parenting…how could you? But God only asks for your faithfulness….not perfection or fear of failure….but just to trust Him like it says in Jeremiah 29:11—that he know the plans he has for you and your kids, and they are to give you hope and a future. That is a faithful promise we can hold on to.
- Remember God loves to use the ordinary to do the extraordinary. Just about every mom of the Bible teaches us this lesson, including Jochebed and Pharaoh’s daughter, who was so ordinary, she is never named in the Bible. But God used them both to give Moses life, so that he could grow up and save God’s people.
- Social media has a way of doing this—making us feel very ordinary or not good enough, but remember God has chosen you to be the mom to the kids He has placed in your life…and you never know…you could be raising the next president of the United States, you could be raising a preacher that will start a worldwide revival, you could be raising a scientist who finds a cure for cancer, or you could just be raising a little girl or little boy to be a mom or dad just like you that is going to lead their kids to Jesus one day and continue to pass down the name of the Lord throughout generations.
- Ordinary is extraordinary when God gets involved!
“That’s what God is about: taking ordinary people and doing extraordinary things through them and then getting glory to Himself.“
Adrian Rogers
This quote came from a message Pastor Rogers preached on feeling ordinary or inferior, but the truth is, God does extraordinary things through ordinary people to give glory to Himself. This remains to be true all throughout Scripture, including ALL the moms of the Bible we have been studying. (LISTEN TO THIS SERMON FREE HERE!)
Finally, I want to leave you with a CHALLENGE…
Do you have a mom friend that is struggling today? Whether a first time mom or a seasoned mom, we can all use some encouragement! Share this podcast episode (or this blog page) with a mom you know is struggling, to remind her that God wants to use her in extraordinary ways to be a light to her kids and to the world for Him! Maybe even fill a little care basket up with goodies or dinner, since today has been all about baskets, and take it to her and ask how you can be praying for her! The encouragement may be just the thing she needs to feel comfortable opening up to you!
I am very greatful to find this page.. i know and i feel God knows what i need at this very moment.. i am struggling now in raising my children.
Rebecca, thanks for reaching out! Motherhood can be hard some days…we need each other! To encourage one another…to keep growing in our relationship with the Lord, so we can outpour it on to our kids. Some says that is easier or harder than others for sure! Please email me at mallen@lwf.org so I can know how to pray for you and encourage you.
Mallory