Let go off the basket…….
Exodus 2:2”…..she hid him three months. 3 When she could hide him no longer, she took for him a basket made of bulrushes and daubed it with bitumen and pitch. She put the child in it and placed it among the reeds by the river bank.”
Observe the words ‘she could hide him no longer!’ Mother of Moses, Jochebed mustered enough strength to take care of her son Moses for just three months, after that the threatening, pressure, fear, stress and danger were too much for her to handle, the life of the baby was in jeopardy! It was now that she decided to put him into a basket and let him go! How about you? Are you holding on to your ‘basket’ in your own strength? Time to let it go! It can be: job, vision, family, relationship, bitterness, anger, children, business and much more……
It was her wholehearted surrender that touched God! She had no clue that Pharaoh’s daughter would spot the child, but her faith was strong and she trusted God to do the rest. Here, I would like to take a digression and point out a most valuable point; there comes a time in our life when we got to take decisions that might not be comfortable or comprehensible but we need to know the will of God and move on. The students studying in our Abide School are mostly from broken homes, abusive background, single parents, alcoholic parents - where both mom and dad drink -, dealing with such kids is no small thing. Recently the father of two children – brother and sister – who study in our school was beating his wife and children every day in an inebriated condition, the whole night he tortured his wife. This happened last year also, when the women came crying to me and said that she was leaving for her mother’s house in a different city - that would affect the studies of the children - I gave her an option of leaving the children behind in a hostel. I said, I would take care of all the arrangements, but she bluntly refused and said that she cannot stay alone without her kids. This women made an unwise decision and as I write this message, the children have still not returned to school. Listen! There is a time that we need to stay alone! The Bible says in Ecclesiastes 3:4”there is a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance..” Are you listening? If only we understand this, we would avoid some careless, carnal decisions in our life!
Jumping from one relationship to another and string of affairs reveal fear of loneliness! Widows, divorcees! Listen please! Embrace loneliness rather than ugliness. Any kind of love that you pursue in an ungodly manner is bound to boomerang and cause you immense loss, agony, shame and disaster. Caveat! Today we have young people who have calculated short-term affairs, live-in relationships during college and working days, thereafter, they disconnect and flee. Did you know the eyes of the Lord are watching?
Coming back to Moses, both his mother and Moses surrendered to the plans of God and went through the path of loneliness, uncertainty, pain and agony. God had a record of their pain and commitment. This led to Moses metamorphosis into a great leader of Israel! Remember this started with the mom letting go off the basket with her baby!
