After my son was born I was feeling tired and disheartened. He was a fussy baby, often awake at night and hard to feed. One day as I sat nursing him for the umpteenth time, I heard a radio program about the life of Moses, the great biblical patriarch. The speaker talked about the trust Moses’ mother had in God in the face of much adversity. She believed God had a purpose for her son which nothing could thwart. The speaker ended with this encouragement, “Take heart, mothers! You may be holding a “Moses” in your arms right now.” The sleepless nights and endless work involved in caring for my little son took on new value in light of God’s potential purposes for him.

Jochabed gave birth to her son Moses during the reign of a wicked Egyptian Pharaoh who, feeling threatened by the growing numbers of Hebrew slaves in his country, ordered all their male babies to be killed at birth. Having come from a priestly line, Jochabed spiritually discerned that Moses was “no ordinary child”, and her faith in God made her “not afraid of the king’s edict.” (Heb.11:23 NIV) After hiding her baby for three months she knew she must act. She prepared a waterproof basket for him and placed it in the reeds of the Nile River with his sister Miriam watching nearby. This may have seemed like a rash and desperate move, but Jochabed knew the time had come to release her child into the hands of God. If God had a future purpose for Moses, as she believed He did, then He would preserve him no matter what.

Pharaoh’s daughter found the little basket and was so enchanted with the baby hidden inside she adopted him as her own. Miriam’s training by Jochabed gave her the bravery to step forward and suggest her own mother as the baby’s wet nurse, so Moses was returned to his mother who was paid to care for him. God rewarded Jochabed’s faith by giving her time with Moses to ingrain into his soul the principles that would draw him back to his own people, and equip him to eventually lead them out of captivity.

The privilege of motherhood comes with its share of pain. Like Jochabed, a mother needs to intuitively know when to hold on to her child and when to let go. The fierce protectiveness a mother has for her young child does not go away as they get older, but changes to selfless release of the grown child into the world. Some part of a mother’s heart will always hold that little one close, no matter how old they get. Jochabed’s story gives the reassurance that faith in the sovereign God of the universe allows a believing mother to release her child into His omnipotent hands, and trust in His perfect purposes for that child.