Faith over Fear: The Story of a Mother's Marvelous Faith

Introduction

Today we have gathered together in this place to study a portion of God’s word and for the last few months now, we have been making our way through the Book of Matthew but today, we are going to take a little break from Matthew and I’m going to ask you if you will to take your copy of God’s magnificent word and turn with me to the Book of Exodus Chapter 2.

Exodus is the second Book in the Old Testament so it shouldn’t be too hard to find for you there. Flip through Genesis and then you’ll come to Exodus and we’re going to be spending our time on this special day looking at Verses 1-10 of Chapter 2.

Now, today is a day that has been set aside nationally since 1914 to honor our Mother’s and the lady who petitioned for Mother’s Day, Anna Jarvis, said something very profound about Mother’s that I want to share with you before we get into the message today.

Anna Jarvis — She said, “a mother is the person who has done more for you than anyone in the world.”

Now I realize this may not be the case for every single person sitting here this morning but I’d dare say for the majority of us, that saying holds true.

Adrian Rogers — Mother’s are perhaps the most powerful and influential force on the face of the earth. It is true that the head of the home is the father but it is equally true that the heart of the home is the mother.

There’s a lot of truth in that statement this morning. Mother’s are special. They possess qualities and instincts that we men just don’t have.

And I believe when God created the woman, He gave her just a little something extra and that little something extra has a way of molding, making, nurturing and shaping children into the adults they will one day become.

And it’s with that, I want to take a few moments here this morning and I want to speak to you about a woman named Jochebed.

Jochebed was the mother of Moses. And you won’t find an overwhelming amount of information about her or her husband whose name was Amram but what you will find, is that their faith in God was strong enough that it landed them in the Hall of Faith in Hebrews Chapter 11.

Hebrews 11:23 KJV 1900

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.

“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.

Faith over Fear: the story of a Mother’s Marvelous Faith. That is going to be the title of the message before us today.

Exodus Chapter 2, if you have it would you say, Amen?

The Family of Jochebed — (Vs. 1)

The Bible tells us here that they were both from the tribe of Levi.

The tribe of Levi would later become the tribe from which all priests would come. They would also become the tribe that took care of the priestly duties when it come to serving in the temple.

They would become a tribe consecrated to God and His work.

And although this saintly tribe wouldn’t come into their priestly duties until later on, we can tell by the scripture, as evidenced from the Verse in the Book of Hebrews that I read earlier, that Amram and Jochebed were born again believers in the one, true God… Jehovah.

Now, I want to take the opportunity afforded me here and just say, if you want to be the best mom you can be to your children, you too must be born again.

You must believe upon the one and only Son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ for there is no other name under heaven given among men whereby you must be saved.

For the Bible says in...

John 3:3 KJV 1900

3 Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.

If you want to be the best momma you can be, you need to be born again from above and you need to teach your children how to be born again by believing upon Jesus!

What mother doesn’t want to spend eternity with her children in heaven?

Jesus said in...

John 3:5–7 KJV 1900

5 Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. 6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. 7 Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again.

If you want to be the best momma you can be to your children…first off, you need to make sure you’re right with Jesus this morning and secondly, you need to do everything within your power to show your children how to be right with Jesus!

Jochebed was born again. She believed in God and it was counted unto her for righteousness! Her faith had made her whole!

Now, that we’ve looked at the family of Jochebed I want us next to see the Fortitude of Jochebed. Look with me if you will in Verse 2.

The Fortitude of Jochebed — (Vs. 2)

Fortitude — means courage in pain or adversity.

And in order to understand the courage that Jochebed was exercising here, we need to flip back to Chapter 1 and get a little more information about the time in which they were living.

Read Chapter 1.

The times in which Amram and Jochebed were bringing little Moses into the world were desperate and dire!

The Children of Israel were in bondage to the Egyptians and they were making life miserable for them. They had went from being a blessed people in a strange land to being slaves in a strange land.

But even in slavery and bondage, God was blessing His children. Notice there it says in...

Exodus 1:12 KJV 1900

12 But the more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and grew. And they were grieved because of the children of Israel.

Don’t you just love how God moves in the lives of His children?

The more the Egyptians tried to denigrate the Children of Israel, the more God delivered them!

And because the Egyptians could see that God was multiplying them right before their very eyes, Pharaoh decided he was going to come up with a way to slow their progress.

He hatches a plan to employ the Hebrew midwives to murder all the male children that are born but to leave the females alive.

What he didn’t plan on was the Hebrew midwives fearing the wrath of their God more than they feared him and not following through with his plan.

So, Pharaoh finally makes a decree that all the males in land shall be thrown into the river and only the females shall be kept alive.

So, back to the present, here’s Jochebed and she’s had a child and this child is a beautiful little baby boy.

When the Bible says here that she saw that he was a goodly child, it means beautiful, excellent, special.

Now listen, I want to say that all children are special, Amen!

But there was something about this little fellow that pulled on Jochebed’s heartstrings and I believe the Holy Spirit of God was speaking to her and telling her that this child was destined to do great things for her God and His people!

She sees that he’s a goodly child and just as the midwives feared God’s commands more than Pharaoh’s commands, Jochebed too feared the wrath of God more and the Bible says she hid him three months.

Now, we don’t know what transpires after three months but something must have changed because the Bible then tells us here in Verse three… “And when she could no longer hide him.”

Maybe Pharaoh started making house calls, maybe he began monitoring the situation more closely, whatever it was, something happened and it had come to the point that Jochebed decides she’s done all to protect the child that she could do.

She had reached the limit of ability!

Her fortitude had come to an end!

But praise be to God, where Fortitude ends, Faith begins, Amen!

She might have reached her limits but Jochebed understood she served a God who had no limits, Amen!

She understood that when she couldn’t, He could!

She understood where she might fail, He could finish!

She understood that when she’d done all she could do that’s when it’s time to turn it over to God and let Him do what only He can do!

Listen momma, I don’t know what you’re going through this morning, but if you’ve done all you can do, if you’ve reached your limits, remember, you serve a God who has no limits!

Turn your cares, your worries, your limits over to Him this morning and let Him do what only He can do for you, in you and through you!

So, we see the Fortitude of Jochebed, now look with me if you will at the Faith of Jochebed in action in Verse 3.

The Faith of Jochebed — (Vs. 3-4)

Pharoah had commanded that all the male children be thrown into the river to drown but Jochebed said I don’t think so.

I’ve done all I can do but if this child is as special as I believe he is, then God will do the rest!

And if an ark was good enough for Noah to protect him from the raging waters of this world, then I also will build an ark for my son and just as God delivered Noah from the waters upon the earth, I believe my God will deliver this beautiful little baby boy of mine!

So, she puts her faith into action and she builds an ark of bulrushes and daubed it with slime and with pitch then she put the baby in the little woven basket and she lays it on the edge of the river in the weeds there so it could be seen and she leaves the rest up to God.

And I love how the Bible says here that Miriam, Moses older sister, stood afar off to see what might happen to him.

I remember Harper, when Keaton was born, she was just enamored with that little baby boy…it ain’t that way anymore by any means but there was a time she was just in love with him when he was a baby and she was intrigued with him when he was new to this world.

And I can just see Moses older sister standing a ways off watching that little basket to see what would happen to her baby brother.

I’m sure her little heart was breaking for that little baby boy and who knows, she might have even been praying for that little fellow but she’s standing there watching and then look what the Bible says happened next in Verses 5-10.

The Faithfulness of God — (Vs. 5-10)

Now, we don’t know the circumstances behind this whole situation…could Jochebed have placed the little ark with Moses in it where Pharaoh’s daughter came to bath every day?

Could she have placed it where she’d be sure to see it?

Yes, she could have. But it doesn’t change the fact that Jochebed had no idea what Pharaoh’s daughter would do with little baby Moses.

Would she drown the little boy herself?

Would she have one of her handmaidens do it?

Would she keep it for her own?

What happened once Jochebed placed little Moses in that ark and left him in the bulrushes was up to God.

But let me just say, when we are faithful to God and His ways, He will be faithful to us, Amen!

Deuteronomy 7:9 KJV 1900

9 Know therefore that the Lord thy God, he is God, the faithful God, which keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love him and keep his commandments to a thousand generations;

1 Corinthians 1:9 KJV 1900

9 God is faithful, by whom ye were called unto the fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord.

2 Corinthians 10:13 KJV 1900

13 But we will not boast of things without our measure, but according to the measure of the rule which God hath distributed to us, a measure to reach even unto you.

Lamentations 3:22–23 KJV 1900

22 It is of the Lord’s mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. 23 They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness.

Aren’t you glad that we serve a faithful God this morning?

Let me show you three ways God showed His faithfulness to Jochebed as we come to a close this morning.

The Compassion of Pharaoh's Daughter — (Vs. 6)

The Compensation of Jochebed — (Vs.

Rod Mattoon — The king’s daughter will pay money from the king’s treasury to defy his own commandment.

Romans 8:28 KJV 1900

28 And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.

The Connection

The child “grew” — Hebrew word (gadal) and it means to grow, to become great or important.

Not only did Moses grow from physical milk but he grew in faith by the sincere milk of the word that Jochebed was feeding him!

The very name “Moses” means to draw forth or pull out.

Little did Pharaoh’s daughter know but no more fitting name could she have given him for he would grow up and be drawn out of Egypt himself by the divine providence of God and then would be sent back into Egypt to bring out the children of God.

When thinking of the life of Moses, God was always at work in his life drawing the best out of him. In every season, in every circumstance, in every situation, God was molding Moses into the mighty man he would one day become and it was all due the marvelous faith of his mother Jochebed.

Closing

Fortitude

Joshua 1:9 KJV 1900

9 Have not I commanded thee? Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest.