Moses And The Ark

Today is Mother’s Day and I wanted to begin our service with a few significant questions to test your knowledge about Mothers. First, how many people here have had a mother? Good, just checking to make sure you’re arms all work. Does anyone know who was considered the greatest prophet in the Old Testament? Does anyone know who was the mother of the greatest prophet in the Old Testament? Although it sounds like an old cliché there is a lot of truth to the saying that ‘None of us would be where we are if it wasn’t’ for our mother.’ Behind most every successful and happy person there is a happy mom.

Today I want to examine the faith of Moses mom, and consider how her life might support the mother’s we want to honor today. Through faith, Moses’ mother prepared the future deliverer of the Israelites for his task. Let’s consider what we can glean from Jochebed’s faith.

I. By Faith Jochebed Protected Her Child

The first action we discover in Jochebed’s story is that she acted in faith to protect her child from any harm.

As a child I remember my mom telling me the story of a mother hen who had a brood of young chicks. This hen lived on a farm in the prairies, and one evening looked up to see the sky alight with a strange glow. You see a spark had ignited a prairie fire and the flames were licking their way across the fields burning everything in their path. The mother hen began to call her chicks to herself, and one by one she gathered them under her wings. Just in time the chicks were gathered in, with a blazing heat the flames came on, but that mother hen didn’t budge. In the morning the farmer was walking through the farmyard surveying the damage. He was sure he could hear the sound of muffled chirps that seemed to come from the edge of the field. He pushed something with his foot and to his surprise found that beneath it were each of the chicks, alive and well. The mother had given her life for the sake of her young. I remember feeling very sad for the poor mother hen as a child, but her sacrifice reflects the attitude of most mothers for their children.

Jochebed is no exception. Scripture tells us that Jochebed was living in a perilous time. A time when the king had ordered that all the male babies born of slaves were to be immediately thrown into the river and drowned, in a desperate attempt to stem the population growth of the Israelites.

I wonder how Jochebed felt when she discovered she was pregnant. Surely it wasn’t’ a planned pregnancy, who would have a child at a time like that. I imagine she must have prayed that God would let it be a little girl. Can you imagine the sleepless nights she must have had as her time drew near.

But when the baby came it was a little boy. A perfect little boy, scripture tells us that she looked upon him and saw that he was beautiful. Is that why she saved him? Because he was beautiful? Scripture tells us more than that, it tells us that she had faith. Faith that this baby was special, a child set apart for a special purpose by God. In those moments after the birth she made a perilous decision: she would not let the baby be taken, she would hide the baby. According to the bible she did this because she feared God more than she feared the Pharaoh of Egypt.

Turn with me to Psalm 139:13-16 and follow along with the words David wrote: For You formed my inward parts; You covered me in my mothers womb. I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Marvelous are Your works, And that my soul knows very well. My frame was not hidden from You, When I was made in secret, And skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed. And in Your book they all were written, The days fashioned for me, When as yet there were none of them.

Many of you are familiar with the words of this Psalm, many of you know that David sets out a case for the fact that from the point of conception a child is a work of God who ‘knits it together in the mothers’ womb. But have you caught that part in verse 16 before? That before we were formed the Lord had fashioned our days for us? What does that mean? Nothing less than the fact that God has a plan for every child, before they even make their appearance. But perhaps you need more, consider Ephesians 2:10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. That’s right, we discover in Christ that God has prepared work for us, he has a purpose for bringing a child forth, YOU HAVE A PURPOSE! But do these passages only apply to certain people? Consider one more passage in Colossians 1:16 For by him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him. Did you catch that last part? God doesn’t make mistakes… to God there is no such thing as an ‘unplanned pregnancy’ nor an ‘unwanted child’. Everything that is created is created FOR HIM.