This is a very encouraging
article about trusting God for your children.
Taken from: http://www.biblicalexaminer.org/m19990509.htm
Mother's Day,
May 9, 1999. Posted
MOSES' MOTHER
Exodus
2:1 And there went a
man of the house of Levi, and took to wife a daughter of Levi. 2 And the woman
conceived, and bare a son: and when she saw him that he was a goodly child, she
hid him three months.
Hebrews
11:23 By faith Moses,
when he was born, was hid three months of his parents, because they saw he was
a proper child; and they were not afraid of the king's commandment.
The birth
of Moses and his place in God's plan is one of the better known stories in
Scripture. Today, I would like to call your attention to his mother.
Genesis
ends with Joseph's death and burial a few years after Israel came into Egypt.
Israel had been given the best land in Egypt, and Israel prospered. While in
Egypt, Israel grew greatly in numbers. Exodus opens with Egypt's king fearful
of Israel's numbers, so he passes a law to kill all new boy babies in Israel.
This was about 360 years after Jacob took his family into Egypt.
Evidently,
this law was not very old when Moses was born. His sister, Miriam, was 15 years
older, and his brother, Aaron, was about 3 years older, and the law was not in
effect when Aaron was born.
Let me
call your attention to several points about Moses' mother:
First,
Moses' mother is unnamed here in Exodus 2. We are told her name in Exodus 6:20, And Amram took
him Jochebed his father's sister to wife.
Note: a person
does not have to be great and well known among men to be a great person of
faith and to be a great person in God's plan. God's work on this earth is normally carried out through
unknown and insignificant people in the world's eyes:
1
Corinthians 1:17 For
Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel: not with wisdom of
words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of none effect. 18 For the
preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which
are saved it is the power of God. 19 For it is written, I will destroy the
wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent.
20 Where is the wise? where is the scribe? where is the disputer of this world?
hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? 21 For after that in the
wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the
foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. 22 For the Jews require a
sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom: 23 But we preach Christ crucified, unto
the Jews a stumblingblock, and unto the Greeks foolishness; 24 But unto them
which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom
of God. 25 Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men; and the weakness
of God is stronger than men. 26 For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not
many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called: 27
But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and
God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are
mighty; 28 And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath
God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are:
29 That no flesh should glory in his presence. 30 But of him are ye in Christ
Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification,
and redemption: 31 That, according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him
glory in the Lord.
The
important thing is that the Lord God knew Moses' mother. The important thing
today is that God knows you through Christ Jesus. Our wisdom, righteousness,
sanctification and redemption is in Christ.
The
world today is very much at war against godly motherhood.
DR
Laura: I like to listen
to her as I have a chance. Because she is a woman and a "Jew," she
can get away with
much more than any Protestant preacher could get away with on the radio. She is
so strong on the Ten
Commandments that she is almost rude to her callers, but they call anyway. In fact, she is neck-in-neck with Rush Limbaugh in the ratings.
I heard
her the other day read a fax from a woman whose young son had called in on a radio contest and won a prize for his mother for Mother's Day. I
believe the boy was preschool.
But when he told the
radio host who had the contest that his mother did not work outside the home, the host refused to sent the prize to him. The host told
the boy that the prize was only for mothers who work. The boy asked his mother why
she did not work.
Dr.
Laura then very firmly
said something like this: When will you wake up? They are out to destroy
your family. It is a war against the family.
I am kind
of surprised that she is so popular
because she "preaches" so strongly for mom's to stay at home with their children, and that
the first responsibility
of both parents is to their children over their occupations and over what is pleasing to their
own selves.
Moses'
mother was not important
in the world's eyes; she was not well known to men, but she was well known to
God.
Second,
Moses was born when times were very difficult. There was a law that he was to be killed
because he was a member of God's people.
Note: I
have heard women say, "I sure would not want to have any children now
because of the difficulties they would face." But here we see that Moses'
mother and father had faith
that the Lord would take care of them, so they had another child, Moses.
Moses was
born in the heat of
the battle: there is not much worse of a battle than a command from the government that all boys born
to Christian parents must be killed. Yet her confidence in the Lord saw her
through.
It was at
the height of oppressive Egypt
that the deliverer was born. It was also at the heights of oppressive Jewish religious leaders and Roman power that the Messiah was born. Rome tried to
kill Christ, and the Jewish religious leaders did kill him.
We hear
today of women escaping from China because of China's required abortion laws.
Third,
when Moses was born, Moses' mother's faith caused her to refuse to obey the
government's wicked law to kill all Hebrew boy babies. Some way, Moses' mother saw that he was a good child --- mother's
intuition. She was not afraid of the king's commandment because she trusted in the Lord.
The law
here was an unlawful
law, and God's people were required to obey the higher law. As they did, God protected them. God had promised to multiply his
people, so their confidence
in his promise caused them to act.
Note:
this mother, though unnamed
in both Exodus 2:2 and in Hebrews 11:23, is noted before God for her faith. What made her important in God's
plan was her faith. Her
faith caused her to fear God
rather than man. Her fear of God caused her to act in obedience to God.
Ephesians
2:8 For by grace are
ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: 9
Not of works, lest any man should boast.
Saving
faith is a gift of God.
Fallen man does not have it in himself to believe God enough to obey God.
We should
pray for God to give
his faith to others
so they can and will come to Christ, and follow his will for themselves.
She
was confident that the Lord would see her through if she would do what she
could.
Hebrews
13:6 So that we may
boldly say, The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto
me.
Psalms
56:4 In God I will
praise his word, in God I have put my trust; I will not fear what flesh can do
unto me.
Psalms
118:6 The LORD is on
my side; I will not fear: what can man do unto me?
Daniel
3:16 Shadrach,
Meshach, and Abednego, answered and said to the king, O Nebuchadnezzar, we are
not careful to answer thee in this matter. 17 If it be so, our God whom we
serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver
us out of thine hand, O king. 18 But if not, be it known unto thee, O king,
that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast
set up.
Fourth,
Exodus 2:2, tells us his mother hid him. Hebrews 11:23 shows us that she
obviously did it with the consent of her husband, but she is given credit for
the action.
Note:
husbands, we must listen
to our wives and the mothers
of our children. They have a "connection" with the children we do not have,
and more often than not, they are right in their assessment, particularly of distressing situations,
though the final decision
is ours.
Fifth,
his mother hid him for three months, until she could no longer hide him. Then
she cast the child upon the river, or rather, she cast him upon the providence
of God.
Note:
most of our mother's in here are in this position: their children are gone. There comes a time in every parent's
life, especially mothers because they are closest to their children, spending
the most time with
them, that they must cast their children upon Divine Providence. They do all they can, then they
must trust in the Lord and prayer.
We cannot
even imagine the kind of Faith this mother had to place her child on the river
when the government had passed a law that all Hebrew boy babies must be killed.
Sixth,
though she cast her child upon the Lord, she still did what she could -- she
sent her daughter to watch after the baby. Moses' mother knew the king's daughter would be at the river at that particular time, and she planed
accordingly.
Note:
though there comes the time when we must cast our children upon the Lord, we must still do
what we can. This mother knew that it was in the Lord's hands. She also knew
that she still had to do what she could. She did not presume upon the Lord
to do for her what she could do herself.
Prayer many times is all we can do in situations, especially with our
children, but prayer does not free us of the responsibility to do what we can do.
John
Weaver loaned me a book, Bible in Pocket, Gun in Hand. It is the story of religion on the
frontier.
Some of the
most pressing prayers were voiced in the face of the enemy. The conquerors of
the West, arrayed for battle, often prayed for victory, and then set out to
help the Lord work a miracle.
The following
prayer is attributed to one-time Texas Ranger Captain Jack Hays when his
regiment was trapped during the Battle of Palo Alto, a major battle of the
Mexican War: "O Lord, we are about to join battle with vastly superior
numbers of the enemy, and, Heavenly Father, we would mighty like for you to be
on our side and help us. But if You can't do it, for Christ's sake don't go
over to the Mexicans, but just lie low and keep in the dark, and You will see
one of the dangest fights you've ever seen."
Instead of
saying "Amen," Hays roared "Charge!"
Whether or not
the exact wording of the prayer has been preserved, it is a historical fact
that the Texans fought themselves out of the trap against great odds.
In emergencies
of battle expediency often took precedence over tradition. One Indian fighter
expressed the belief that prayer called for co-operative action--you ask the
Lord for something and then help Him bring it to pass. Having just fought
himself out of a tight place after being surrounded by the Indians, he was
asked if he had prayed.
He said,
"Yes."
Asked if he
had closed his eyes to pray, he promptly answered, "No." He explained
that if he had closed his eyes the Indians would have gotten him for sure.
"I had to keep fightin'. I believe in cooperating with the Lord," he
said. "I kinda doubt if the Lord could have gotten me out of that scrape
all by Himself."
Many
frontiersmen had no hesitancy in calling on the Lord for his co operation in
violent endeavors. During the notorious East Texas feud, known as the War of
the Regulators and Moderators, a preacher, tired and disgusted with the
killings on both sides, delivered this prayer: 'Now, Lord, if any Regulator or
Moderator makes any effort to revive their disturbances, curse him with the
loss of eyes, destroy his limbs that he may never be able to walk, curse him
when he sits down to eat, curse his fields; and if this will not stop his
hellish career, kill him and send him down to his own place."
Faith
requires both prayer and action where action can be taken.
Seventh,
casting the situation upon the Lord and then doing what she could, the Lord
rewarded her greatly.
A) the
Lord caused the
king's daughter to find
her baby.
B) the
Lord moved the daughter
with compassion. Her compassion caused her to disobey her father's law about killing the baby. Her compassion caused her to keep the child and call a woman to care for the child.
C) the
Lord honored this
mother's faith by having the mother herself care for her own baby. And the Lord even paid
for the child care.
Eighth,
this mother cared for her child until he was weaned. The story is that she had at least two and probably three years with her son.
Note:
this mother took advantage of every moment she had with her child. She knew the
child would not stay with her forever, so she made the very best use of her
time with him.
Ephesians
5:16 Redeeming the
time, because the days are evil.
She knew
that she did not have much time, so she used every moment wisely. We can only
imagine what this mother taught her son during this short period of time.
HOW
WISELY DO WE USE OUR TIME?
Ninth,
she had to give him up again.
The first time she had to give her son to the Lord in the river. This time she had to give him up to this wicked kingdom, Egypt. This was
the kingdom that had passed a law demanding all male children be killed. Now she
had to give him up again, only this time to a world that was at war against
God's people.
Note:
there comes a time in
every mother's life that she must yield her children to the "kingdom" of this
world: she must permit that child
to go out into the world. Then all she can do is pray that the child's upbringing, and the
Lord, will keep that
child faithful.
Tenth,
she did not give up. At
times, the word of God passes over vast amounts of time as though it is not
there. That is the case --- v. 10-vv. 11 covers at least 37 years.
We see
that this mother's faith was not rewarded for 37 years, at least. Her prayers
were finally answered
when Moses took his stand against the world.
Note:
this mother was no doubt tempted many times to give up. The first time when she had to commit
him by faith to the Lord and the river. The second time when she had to commit
him again to the Lord and the ungodly state that was attempting to destroy God's people.
God
honored this godly mother's faith when, many years latter, the Lord moved her
son to chose the riches of Christ over the riches of this world.
Hebrews
11:23 By faith Moses,
when he was born, was hid three months of his parents, because they saw he was
a proper child; and they were not afraid of the king's commandment. 24 By faith Moses, when he was come to years,
refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter; 25 Choosing rather to
suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin
for a season; 26 Esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the
treasures in Egypt: for he had respect unto the recompence of the reward. 27 By
faith he
forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king: for he endured, as seeing him
who is invisible. 28 Through faith he kept the passover, and the sprinkling of blood, lest
he that destroyed the firstborn should touch them. 29 By faith they passed through the Red sea as by
dry land: which the Egyptians assaying to do were drowned.
Moses'
mother's faith caused her to act. Then when she could no longer act, she
prayed. No doubt, Moses' faith can be traced to his mother's faith.
And
finally, notice how her faith was multiplied in her son --- faith is only mentioned once in her actions, but faith is mentioned four times in Moses' actions.
Mothers,
don't give up. If anyone
had a reason to give up, Moses' mother did. But we see that she did not, and
look at how God honored her faith.