More in Store / Moses' Mom

March 30

(Some lessons in Exodus)

Read: Exodus 2

More in Store / Moses’ Mom

Heb. 11:23

“By faith Moses, when he was born, was hidden for three months by his parents, because they saw that the child was beautiful, and they were not afraid of the king's edict.”

“There must be more in store.” This thought had to be echoing in the brain of Jochebed as she looked down at her newborn child. What else would compel a woman to expose herself to so much potential pain and heartbreak? There was something about this child that called out to his mother and father… something “different”… something “beautiful”… the sort of beauty that convinces you that God is real and that He is in control and that He must have more in store for this universe he has created.

The boys father and mother agree, they will not allow this boy to be killed. So in secret they raise him. For three months they coddle him, nurture him, feed him and care for him until he can be hidden no longer. What a spectacular boy he must have been to warrant such risk and heartache.

Can you imagine what it must have been like building that floating baby carrier from reeds, coating it with sap, and then dropping this beautiful baby into it!?! Faith is “the assurance of things hoped for and the conviction of things unseen.” (Heb. 11:1) The scriptures teach us that it was “by faith” that Moses’ parents did this. (Heb. 11:23) What were they hoping for? What were they so sure of that they could not yet see? They had to trust that God had better things in store… that there was more to the story… that it was worth the risk to have those three months with the boy and that God would to send something so beautiful simply to be destroyed at birth. In the midst of the heartache and toil of life in Egypt, God sent this “beautiful” boy and he reminded his mother and father that God had not forgotten them, and that there was still reason to hope… good things that were unseen and yet worth remaining convinced of!

There is one other piece to this story. You see it was not only faith but also the fact that “they were not afraid of the kings edict”. They were not afraid of what the world could or would throw at them. Most likely, the punishment would be death. They were not afraid to die for a chance to see God’s blessing in this life and to gaze upon his beauty even if it was only for three months. God blesses them with more time… more blessing. They bundled up and cast out onto the water their little boy… and the Lord brought him back! How stunned must Moses’ Mom- Jochebed - been when Miriam came rushing back and told her mother that the boy had been found by Pharaoh’s daughter and that they wanted her to nurse him! This was not forever… it was just for a season… but the Lord blessed them with more time with their boy. How much more SURE were Moses’ parents of God having something powerful in store now? This miraculous turn of events stood as a sign and a seal to the larger overarching truth: God is GOOD, worthy of trust, sending beauty even in the midst of turmoil and hardship, and has a plan… there is always more in store… this is FAITH.

I wonder if they had a name for the boy? Eventually Jochebed would hand him back to the Pharaoh’s daughter. (v.10) It was Pharaoh’s daughter who names him Moses because she says “I drew him out of the water.” There was no reason that Pharaoh’s daughter should know the Hebrew scriptures enough to know that the idea of being “drawn from the water” or “out of the water” was synonymous with the idea of God rescuing a person from the trouble or turmoil they are in. (cf. Ps. 18:16, Ps. 32:6, 2 Sam. 22:17) The ancient world always saw the water as a sign of chaos, the unknown, and evil in general. Moses’ name foreshadows exactly what God does for his people; he “draws them out of the rushing water”. Think of how 80 years later Moses would be walking THROUGH the Red Sea leading his people out of the water and on their journey towards the promised land.

God is calling us to trust that “there is more in store”… that there truly are better days ahead. When God sends us something of beauty, it reminds us that he is breaking in to this world - this hardship and turmoil filled world - and he is bringing reason to hope and conviction of what we cannot yet see… he is sending us faith! God is strengthening our faith so that we are “not afraid of the kings edict” or what the world may throw at us. The other truth is this: sometimes we will have to trust the Lord enough to build a basket out of reeds, coat it with sap, and place into the very thing of beauty that he has brought to us. We will be called to place it on the water and watch what happens. We may be surprised at the ways that the Lord brings that ting of beauty back. (For every parent who has had to watch their child grow up and leave… you know exactly this gut wrenching feeling!) We don’t get to hoard the gifts of the Lord… they need to be “let go of” at times to bring greater blessing and freedom. (Look at this boy Moses who would eventually lead God’s people out of slavery in Egypt.) We will never fully embrace this until we trust God’s goodness, provision, blessing, and plan. What “beautiful baby boy” has God sent your way? What has he called you to bundle up and send down the river? What has he miraculously brought back to you for another season of joy? Do you trust he will “draw you out of the waters” of life the same way he did Moses and the same way he did for his people? Could we be like Amram and Jochebed - who by faith find the beauty of the Lord in the midst of the threat of the king and the hardship of Egypt and trust that the Lord has something more in store… that there is still reason to be hopeful… and that although we don’t see how it will all unfold, we can be sure of the good plan of the “unseen” God? Love you guys. - JDP