A Woman with a Plan

A Prudent Mother

We live in what seems to be an insane time to be a parent. I hear even Christians make statements like, “It would not seem fair for a child to be born in this crazy world these days.” This is such unbiblical thinking. In fact, True Believers should be having children, adopting children, training them in the way of the Christ and molding them into tomorrows leaders of our nation, influencers and shapers of our society.

While the nation of God haters murder their children in the womb, we should be outnumbering them with the truth of our Creator. The ultimate problem is that most professing Christians have bought into the world’s view rather the view of the Creator of the world. Therefore, they do not have a biblical worldview nor do they raise children with biblical worldviews. For the most part, we have a lot of preachers who do not have Biblical worldviews.

But the perils of this world are nothing new. In Scripture, there was a mother who gave birth to a child in one of the most horrific periods of time. In her nation, she was a foreigner and a slave in one of the world’s most powerful and brutal nations. When her child opened his eyes for the very first time, his life was immediately in jeopardy. But this mother, who trusted her God, had a plan given to her by the Lord. You see, other children born at this same time did not stand much of a chance. But this child was born to believing parents which increased the child’s chances because of the God they trusted according to Hebrews 11:23.

Hebrews 11:23 ESV

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.

This is not speaking of the faith of Moses but the faith of his mother. And they feared God more than the king. For three months Jochebed יוֹכֶבֶד (Yokevhed) hid the child (Exodus 6:20).

Exodus 6:20 ESV

Amram took as his wife Jochebed his father’s sister, and she bore him Aaron and Moses, the years of the life of Amram being 137 years.

Her name means “whose glory is Jehovah”. Her husband was Amram עַמְרָם, meaning “kindred of the Most High”. So, his mother’s identity and hope was in the glory of Jehovah through all she lived for. And her husband was “kindred to God” meaning having similar nature and character as that of Jehovah. This man lived 137 years upright before the Lord. These Hebrew parents did not assimilate into Egyptian pagan culture, but maintained their covenant faith and hope in Adonai.

Exodus 2 lays out this mother’s plan for her child.

In Exodus 1:22, Pharaoh had commanded that the new born Hebrew sons be thrown into the Nile River. Well, Yokevhed did just as Pharaoh said. The only difference is that she did it very strategically, valuing the life God had given her.

Look in Genesis 6:14.

Genesis 6:14 ESV

Make yourself an ark of gopher wood. Make rooms in the ark, and cover it inside and out with pitch.

Genesis 6:14 says that God commanded Noah to build and ark (tevath תֵּבָה) to save his family. Moses’ mother builds a “basket” (tevath תֵּבָה) or a miniature version of Noah’s ark to save her child. As she releases the child, she releases one of her most precious belongings into the hands of the Almighty. We see this same faith with several mothers throughout Scripture such as the mother of the Prophet Samuel and the mother of Jesus.

The Scriptures tell us that Moses’ mother prayerfully places the basket and baby into the river right where Pharaoh’s daughter often bathed. She then has Moses’ sister carefully watch the basket while his mother strategically positions herself to respond to a call. When the child was found and identified as a Hebrew child, quickly Moses’ sister (Miriam) exclaims, “Shall we get a Hebrew woman to nurse the child?” And of course, who is waiting for this call except Moses’ own mother.

Mother’s you have a sovereign call from God in raising your children.

Proverbs 1:8 ESV

Hear, my son, your father’s instruction, and forsake not your mother’s teaching,

This mother’s plan was to save her child. But God’s plan was so much bigger. It was to deliver a people from whom would come the Savior of the world. Through all of this God was at work from Moses’ mother, to the river’s currents and the response of Pharaoh’s daughter.

In fact, in Exodus 2:9, Pharaoh’s daughter even pays Moses’ mother to nurse her own child.

Exodus 2:9 ESV

And Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Take this child away and nurse him for me, and I will give you your wages.” So the woman took the child and nursed him.

This reveals, not the cleverness of Moses’ mother but the faithfulness of our God when we trust Him and do life His way, even in the hardest and most difficult of times.

We are thankful for all of our mothers who have raised us and those who have gone on before us. But mothers of today, those who are raising your children in the most challenging of days, do you have a plan to raise your children in the way of the Lord? Do you know the mind of Christ? Are you imparting a true Biblical worldview in your children? Or, will they get sucked into the cultural current of godlessness? I am not talking about raising religious children but raising them in the ark of the Christ, the salvation of the one and only Savior of the world. I am talking about training them in the righteousness of God instead of moral relativism, humanism, progressivism, and cultural compromise.

If you are a father, are you doing the same? If you are neither a father or mother, are you truly following God’s plan for your life? If not, when will you start? We need more mothers like Moses’ and we need more men like him and his father to stand in their place of God’s plan instead of just complaining about the world around us.