"JOCHEBED, THE RIGHT KIND OF MOTHER!"

Written and preached by David P. Nolte

EXODUS 2 1-10

Jochebed, an exemplary, courageous, model of a mother. She lived in a perilous time. The Israelites were no longer in favor with the Egyptians. Pharaoh feared their increase in number and their possible alliance with Egypt's enemies. He took a drastic step to minimize the danger of that by issuing a godless, heartless decree: "Throw all the newborn Israelite boys into the Nile River. But you may spare the baby girls." Exodus 1:22 (NLT).  Jochebed was a woman of God, used greatly by God because she lived by faith. Jochebed had the unique opportunity to raise three leaders: Aaron, Miriam and Moses! Jochebed was the right kind of mother because

1. SHE FEARED GOD MORE THAN SHE FEARED MAN:
1. Jochebed knew the decree Pharaoh had made. She knew that her baby's life was forfeit if she didn't do something to save him. And she knew that her own life was on the line if she disobeyed.
2. But that decree just went against everything basically humane and moral and right. So Jochebed, fearing God more than man, made a decision that, though it put her in great jeopardy, proved to be the decision that saved a nation.
3. Let me share some principles with you about who to fear and who not to fear.
1. Jesus said, "Don't be afraid of those who want to kill you. They can only kill your body; they cannot touch your soul. Fear only God, Who can destroy both soul and body in hell." Matthew 10:28 (NLT). Here's the principle: Don't fear man (with timidity or alarm) but fear God (with awe, respect, and obedience).
2. When the authorities ordered the apostles to quit preaching about Jesus, they men replied, "We must obey God rather than human authority." Acts 5:28-29 (NLT). Of course we are to obey the laws of the land. But only insofar as they do not contradict or interfere with God's commands. Here's the principle: Always obey the higher authority when there is a conflict of orders.
4. When our son John was about 3 years old, the "streaking" idiocy was in full swing. People with too much time and not enough sense were removing all their clothes and galloping across football fields during a game and so on. Naked as a jaybird and dumb as a dodo. Was it exhibitionism or just pure dinginess? Anyhow, one of the boys in the youth group told John, "I'll give you a dollar if you take off your clothes and run across the stage while your dad is preaching!" John, wisely and rightly, said, "No! My Daddy would spank me!" He knew whom to fear and whom to obey! It saved us having a board meeting to get to the seat of the problem.

Jochebed was the right kind of mother because she feared God more than man. And,

2. SHE TAUGHT HER DAUGHTER TO BE WISE:
1. After the basket was put into the river, Miriam stuck around to keep an eye on her baby brother. And when Pharaoh's daughter found him, Miriam was right on the spot to suggest a solution to the need: "Should I go and find one of the Hebrew women to nurse the baby for you?" she asked. She wisely concealed her relationship to the baby, and wisely worked it so that the baby's own mother, Jochebed, got to do the early rearing of the boy.
2. Her mother obviously taught her wisdom. Wisdom. What is it?
1. Wisdom is the ability to rightly apply knowledge. There are many with a lot of knowledge who don't have the sense God gave a graham cracker. Wisdom is applying knowledge rightly.
2. Wisdom is seeing life from God's perspective. It is knowing what God thinks about something, and desires and approves.
3. Wisdom is circumspection and caution. It is not being afraid to take risks, but is hesitant to leap before looking.
4. Wisdom is understanding and insight into the true nature of things; it is looking beneath the surface appearance.
5. Wisdom is the ability to discriminate and to tell the difference between right and wrong, good and bad, smart and stupid.
6. Wisdom is the ability to exercise sound judgment in making decisions. It is prudence and discretion.
3. The right kind of mothers seek to teach wisdom. They do so by
1. Living wisely and prudently. Not making decisions on the basis of emotions or peer pressure. Example is the greatest teacher.
2. Teaching wise precepts and giving good, sound, prayerful counsel and advice.
3. Surrounding her children with godly literature and monitoring their tv and music and other sources of information.
4. Keeping their children in touch with God through Sunday School, church and youth events and by praying with them daily. Would that Paul could say to us as he did to Timothy, "I know that you sincerely trust the Lord, for you have the faith of your mother, Eunice, and your grandmother, Lois." 2 Timothy 1:5 (NLT).
4. A mother counseled her daughter just before her wedding. She had been married to the girl's father for 30 years and shared her wisdom. She said, "Honey, if you want to succeed in life, in marriage, and in raising children as fine as mine have grownt to be, here are three things to remember: Love God, love your husband, and love your children. Do that, and all the other things will fall into place." The girl married. When they settled down in their home, she remembered, "love God." So she and her husband found a church home and became faithful members. Inevitably, conflicts arose where her will and that of her husband differed. But she remembered, "love your husband," and sought with him to find a solution. When she had children, sometimes she wondered "why?" and then remembered, "love your children," and patiently worked with them to train them as her mother had trained her. Years later she said, "Mother gave me the greatest gift of wisdom when she taught me to love. First to love God, then my husband, and finally my children. No gift could have made me a better wife and mother and no gift could have made my life richer."

Jochebed was the right kind of mother because she feared God more than man and she taught her daughter to be wise and,

3. SHE PREPARED HER SON FOR LIVING RIGHT IN A PAGAN WORLD:
1. How providential that this baby, assigned to death by Pharaoh's decree, would be saved by Pharaoh's daughter and raised by his own biological mother. Taken from the basket boat in the river and put back into the arms of his own mother, Moses was instilled early on with the basic, fundamental knowledge of, and faith in, the Living God.
1. Jochebed was allowed to nurse the child and to keep him until he was weaned. In those days a child may not have been weaned until about the age of two or three.  But for sure, in whatever time she had with him, since she would have been his first teacher, she instilled in him knowledge of and appreciation for his heritage as a Hebrew. She not only gave him physical provision, but she taught him about God. This is something he would never forget. And then, when he was ready, she brought him to Pharaoh's daughter to raise as her own son.
2. Jochebed and Amram were persons of faith and commitment because we read: "It was by faith that Moses' parents hid him for three months. They saw that God had given them an unusual child, and they were not afraid of what the king might do."   Hebrews 11:23 (NLT).
   
2. Are our children prepared
1. To go to secular colleges where in many instances they are bombarded with anti-God, anti-American propaganda?
2. To go into the workplace where they will be thrust into a milieu of "dog eat dog," "look out for number one" and "every man for himself?"
3. To enter the military where their character and strength are tested to the limit?
4. To abide in the secular society that surrounds and often devours its citizens?
3. There is no greater work a mother or father can do than to have reared Godly children who can survive in a godless world. Jochebed had Moses for three years at best before she returned him to the Pharaoh's daughter to be raised as a prince of Egypt. Yet the lessons he learned at his mother's knee were indelibly written in his heart. There is no other way to explain the fact that nearly 40 years later when Moses was a grown man he still regarded the Hebrews as his people and as his kinsmen. There is no other explanation for why a prince of Egypt, raised in the lap of luxury and trained and educated for a life of nobility, would risk it all to save a Hebrew slave. There is no other explanation for why he would be open to the call of the Living God as he shepherded sheep in the wilderness.  Jochebed may have had Moses for only three years, but in those years she trained and prepared him live right in a pagan world.
4. A young Christian boy went off to a state college. He was surrounded with temptations to drink and carouse and let his school work slip in order to party. But before he went to school, his mother asked him to promise to read a chapter or two of his Bible daily, to pray daily and to worship in church regularly. That had been his life before, so he thought he would have no difficulty with that in school. But as he let those things slip, his grades, his morals and his faith began to slip, too. One day, the Holy Spirit convicted him that he was going astray. He remembered his promise to his mother. He dusted off his Bible and began to read. He started praying again. In a couple of weeks, he returned to church. Things began to change for the good. Later, after graduation, he testified, "It was the influence of my godly mother that brought me back from the brink of disaster in college. All that I am today, I owe to her."

So, who do you fear? Who do you obey? Who do you serve? Man or God? And, what are you teaching your children? Faith? Truth? Honor? Wisdom? And how are you arming your children for the conflict this world will wage against their morals, their ethics, their faith? And what impact are you making on your world and its future by the life you now live? Frances Havergal wrote words that should indicate our position for Christ, "Truehearted, wholehearted! Fullest allegiance. Yielding henceforth to our glorious King! Valiant endeavor and loving obedience Freely and joyously now would we bring. Truehearted! Savior, You know our story, Weak are the hearts that we lay at Your feet, Sinful and treacherous! yet, for Your glory, Heal them, and cleanse them from sin and deceit."   That's full surrender and obedience.  Can you say that today? Mothers? Fathers? Children? Can you be like Jochebed, fearing and serving God no matter what the cost? Make that commitment today, as we sing "Have Thine own way, Lord."