Now a man of the tribe of Levi married a Levite woman, and she became pregnant and gave birth to a son. When she saw that he was a fine child, she hid him for three months. But when she could hide him no longer, she got a papyrus basket for him and coated it with tar and pitch. Then she placed the child in it and put it among the reeds along the bank of the Nile. Exodus 2:1-3 NIV
Most everyone knows about the amazing faith of Moses, but not nearly everyone knows that if it weren’t for the incredible risk-taking faith of his mother Jochebed, there would be no Moses. The Israelite nation had grown so much in Egypt that over a few hundred years the Egyptians completely changed their opinion of them. They regarded them as a threat and enslaved them. It was miserable for the Israelites, but it got even worse. Even in slavery with unfathomable deprivation and abuse, the Israelites were getting stronger. The Pharoah ordered the midwives who delivered the babies to let the girl babies live but kill the males in order to keep the strength of the nation from growing. But the midwives had risky faith. They feared God more than the Pharoah, and they told the authorities the babies came too quickly, arriving before the midwives could even get there. So, Pharoah took his cruel control even further. He ordered all the people to kill any new babies that came to their notice.
Moses was born into that situation. Jochebed took a huge risk to her own life and hid the little boy in those close quarters for three months. Can you imagine? But when hiding him in their little home became impossible, she made a tiny basket boat for him and put him in the Nile River reeds. What risks she was taking! He could be killed by crocodiles, by people who found him, or drowned. But this was what her faith called her to do and she took the risk. She sent his sister Miriam to hide and watch – now endangering two children. But her risky faith paid off. The Pharaoh’s daughter came to bathe at that very river spot. The sight and sound of the sweet little baby grabbed her heart and she got him out of the water. Miriam, the sister, saw her chance and stepped forward. “Would you like me to get a Hebrew woman to nurse him for you?” The princess agreed, and Miriam ran home. Moses’ own mother became his nanny and she taught him the things of the Lord, even as he was raised in the Pharoah’s palace.
Year’s later Jesus said, “Risk your life and get more than you ever dreamed of” (Luke 19:26 MSG). No one could testify to that more than Jochebed. She risked everything to obey God. She saved her son, and God used him to save the nation and set the direction of faith that still impacts us thousands of years later.
- “Life expands or shrinks in proportion to our courage to take risks” (Anais Nin). If our risks are God-directed, we go places and see results with Him that are beyond what we could ask or imagine.