Missionary Broadcasting.com

“And when she could not longer hide him, she took for him an ark of bulrushes, and daubed it with slime and with pitch, and put the child therein; and she laid it in the flags by the river’s brink.” Many a Mother’s Day sermon has been drafted based upon this text. The faith displayed in these actions is both admirable and worthy of imitation. Jochebed chose to give up her son, trusting God to intervene in His life and use him for His own purposes. While this “giving up” of children is displayed for us so many times in scripture, especially in the Old Testament, it is often reluctantly embraced by the modern parent. I’ll never forget a speech one Bible college President gave several years ago. He spoke with great sadness about the dozens (hundreds perhaps) of students that expressed a desire to enter missions or the pastorate, only to be persuaded by their parents to choose a more “lucrative” field. Some even threatened to stop financing their education if they studied for vocational service. He was convinced pressure from parents was the number one reason his students chose not to follow Christ into the ministry. Does this passage specifically address the problem? Maybe not; but it does bring us face to face with a woman that was willing to release her son in total dependence upon God. Five verses later God rewarded her obedience by giving Moses back (for a season).