This post is from Moms Take Ten episode 100, “Moms in the Bible–Jochebed part 2”, which you can listen to wherever you listen to podcasts or at https://sites.libsyn.com/403493/100th-episode-moms-in-the-bible-jochebed-part-2
Jesus, motherhood, foster care and adoption. When I set out 100 episodes ago, those are the words I used to describe what Moms Take Ten is all about. And those words still hold true today. I want Jesus lifted high, because without him, the other things we talk about are so much harder and much more hopeless. We talk about motherhood because that is the life stage that I am living in, that is what I can best speak to, and I want other moms to know that they are not alone. And foster care and adoption, those are two of my passion areas. They hold my heart, they have shaped my motherhood and without them, my life would look very different.
As I was looking at my schedule, and realizing that this episode would be the 100th, I saw that it was a moms in the Bible week, and Jochebed was next up. How perfect is that? A woman whose faith in the Lord defined her life, whose motherhood is what we know about her, and who, in her own way, placed her child for adoption.
If you recall her story, her and her husband were Israelites, living in Egypt during the time of slavery. In the midst of oppression and prejudice, they were growing their family. Already having two children, Jochebed became pregnant. Though the King’s edict was to kill all Israelite baby boys, Jochebed, her husband Amram, and the midwives defied the law and protected the sweet little boy. You and I know him as Moses.
Though his name is not even mentioned in the short narrative of Jochebed’s life, the Lord is at the core of her story. Jochebed lived out her faith in a God-filled, powerful way and God blessed her for her obedience. He kept the baby hidden in their home for three months. He protected the infant in the river where Jochebed had placed him in a homemade ark. He filled Pharaoh’s daughter with compassion to adopt the child. He emboldened Miriam to speak up to the Princess and offer an Israelite nurse. He gave Jochebed the gift of nursing and caring for Moses in his early years while also providing for the family financially through her salary. God used her obedience not only to save her son, but through her son, to rescue and lead his people to a far better place. In addition, as we follow the Israelites out of Egypt, we see that God also used Jochebed’s older children in the leadership of Israel. Her relationship with God, as seen through her obedience, impacted her family and her nation for generations upon generations.
Jochebed came from a lineage of people who knew the one true God. Looking back at the women that we have studied already, we see the legacy that she was born into. Eve recognized God was with her even in her exiled home far from the garden of Eden. Hagar saw the hand of the Lord rescue her and her child twice from poverty and death. Sarah’s laughter testified of the Lord’s ability to turn mourning into joy as he fulfills the promises he makes. Rebekah learned that God was faithful to answer the prayers of those who seek him. Leah and Rachel received the blessing of children from the Lord even though they struggled to put him first in their lives. The children of each of these women bore witness to the hand of God in their lives, ending with Joseph declaring that even though his brothers intended harm, God used their actions to save the lives of many. (Gen. 50:20)
Though hundreds of years had passed since that conversation between Joseph and his brothers, the time was marked not only by the oppression of God’s people but by the faith and courage of the people, of the women. The stories of God’s faithfulness and goodness had been passed down. Jochebed was blessed to have such an incredible legacy to lean on. Through the midwives, she also had the gift of women in her community who were modeling a life of faith and courage despite having the same fears that she herself was facing. Jochebed was not alone in her refusal to obey the godless laws of the Pharaoh.
We will probably not find ourselves hiding our children from a murderous, insecure ruler. Thank the Lord for that! We might, however, find ourselves walking into a principal’s office to advocate for our child who is being bullied or not receiving the services they should be. Perhaps we will march with others in solidarity against social injustice. It might be in the privacy of our child’s bedroom or on the drive to school that we will engage in conversations that defy the plans of the evil one to take them captive to his way of thinking. Standing up against oppression or fighting the pressure to conform can feel lonely. We can start to think that we are the only ones who believe, the only ones who think the way that we do, or who are raising our children as we are.
The beautiful truth of Scripture is that we too come from a lineage of faith. Galatians 3:29 points out that “if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise.” Continuing his encouragement to endure in the faith, the writer of Hebrews begins chapter 12 by stressing that we are surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses. One commentary states, “If only one believer from the past had endured, that would be sufficient to show that it can be done; but there are countless faithful people whose lives are witnesses”.[1] When we are presented with a choice of obeying God or following the world, of standing firm in faith or giving in to fear, of confronting the sin and injustice before us or turning a blind eye, we can be encouraged by the testimony of those who have chosen the former, the better way.
Here on Moms Take Ten, we have had the privilege of hearing woman after woman testify of God’s goodness and faithfulness in their lives. Brittany Loosa and Kim Taylor, Alicia Rushton and Natalie Stage, Jessica Brandon and Katie Wetsell, Marija and Brandy and Jilana and Phylicia and so many more. In their motherhood, in foster care and adoption, in their workplaces, in their ministry, they encourage us to live for the Lord wherever he has placed us. Each woman who has joined us on Moms Take Ten has spoken of the beauty and also the hard, and the same is true for the moms in the Bible that we have studied. In each moment, with whatever we are facing we all have a choice in how we will respond.
As Jochebed gave birth to Moses and learned that he was a boy, she too was presented with a choice. She could accept the fate that Pharaoh had prescribed and begin to mourn her son’s death, or she could do everything in her power to see that he lived. She chose obedience to the Lord, acknowledging that he alone was ruler in her life. She chose courage even though she surely must have feared what could happen to her and her family. It is God himself who enabled Jochebed and the midwives to take their stand, and it is God himself who will enable us to do so. He promises strength and courage if we ask him.
Time and time again throughout the Scriptures when someone struggled to believe, God encouraged them with the truth that he would be with them. What does it mean that God is with us? Isaiah 41:10 says that God’s presence brings strength and help. Psalm 23 speaks of God’s protection, provision, and abundant blessing as he journeys with us. Philippians 4:6-7 promises an active and awesome peace that guards our hearts from worry and fear.
Imparting a few last words to his disciples, Jesus spoke of having “all authority in heaven and on earth” (Matt 28:29). His presence, God’s presence, means authority. Authority means power. Power means strength. Strength means courage. In Romans 8, Paul declares, “If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?” (v. 32). What an incredible statement! And there is more.
God is active and present in the world around us, and in our lives, and he is present inside of us. The conclusion of Jesus’s farewell carried the promise that he would be with his followers always. How could he make such a statement as he was leaving? It is because Jesus knew, as he had told them a few different times that though he would not be present with us in bodily form, his spirit, the Holy Spirit, would come and dwell with each one of us who believes (John 14:16-17; Acts 1:8). He called the Holy Spirit our helper and he said, “And when they bring you to trial and deliver you over, do not be anxious beforehand what you are to say, but say whatever is given you in that hour, for it is not you who speak but the Holy Spirit.” (Mark 13:11)
In the difficult moments, when the choice feels impossible and the risk too great, God is with us, strengthening, equipping and guiding us. He is our ezer, our helper, and in him, we have no need to fear. As we grow in our relationship with the Lord, we discover this to be true more and more. Proverbs 31 describes a woman rooted in the Lord in this way, “Strength and dignity are her clothing, and she laughs at the time to come.” That laughter is that of a warrior prepared for battle. It is the laughter of a woman clothed in the armor of her Lord that knows that come what may she will be victorious because she is in Him. These days, we might call it the rumble of a mama bear. That moment, with her new son swaddled in her arms, Jochebed entered her mama bear moment, not in her own strength, but in the power and will of the Lord.
My prayer for the next 100 episodes of Moms Take Ten is the same as it was for the first–the you, all who are listening, would meet Jesus in these episodes and as you grow in your knowledge of and identity in him, you will be refreshed and refueled for your mothering, your fostering, your adopting, and all the other spaces that he calls you too. And that you would know that there is a community of women who are walking this road with you and cheering you on. You, mama, are so very loved.
[1] The Moody Bible Commentary edited by Michael Rydelnik and Michael VanLaningham. Chicago. Moody Publishers. 2014. Pg1943
Lyssa Stoyko 