Are You a Basket Case?
If you are pregnant, you have to add the Zika virus to the list of fears along with school shootings, terrorist attacks, sexual predators and natural disasters. If this is all making you a basket case as a parent, you can relate to Jochabed. While she was raising her children they were engaging in infanticide.
A new evil king had come into power in Egypt and saw the population and strength of the Israelites as a threat. Initially, he condemned them to hard labor but they only grew stronger. Then he secretly employed the midwives to kill off all the Hebrew male newborns but the midwives were dedicated and God-fearing and wouldn’t do it. So the king said, enough of this undercover stuff and went viral. He commanded his troops to simply hurl every baby boy into the Nile River.
One would think, ‘Oh thanks be to God, I’m not pregnant right now.’ But Jochabed is! She is pregnant with her third child. She gives birth to a beautiful baby….boy. We cannot imagine living in this scene but I compare it to the days of the Holocaust. I think of the desperate measures used to conceal the Jewish children. Jochabed is successful at keeping him hidden for three months. But at some point she believes her baby to be in eminent danger, perhaps there were informants, but for whatever reason, she concocts a plan. Surely the Egyptians would not be looking for a live baby in the Nile. So she prepares a basket using Papyrus reeds, thought to ward off water beasts and coats it with pitch to make it water-tight. She has done all that she can. She informs her family it’s time and nestles her son in the tiny ark. At three months he is recognizing her face and gurgles and coos to get her attention, but Jochabed moves with determination and resolve. She carries her precious son to the water’s edge
She kneels down and gently places her tiny convoy in the water. But there is a moment suspended in time when she must let go. Let go of the basket. Let go of her infant son!
F. B. Myers says: They launched the ark not on the Nile only, but on God’s providence. He would be Captain, Steersman, and Convoy of the tiny bark. Miriam stood to watch. There was no fear of FATAL consequences, only the quiet expectancy that God would do something worthy of Himself. They reckoned on God’s faithfulness, and they were amply rewarded.
We know that God did something worthy of Himself! If only Jochabed could have seen it, her little boy, Moses, meeting and talking with Almighty God and leading His chosen nation to freedom.
Bring It Home
Are you a basket case raising a child in today’s volatile world? As a parent, I stressed over the safety of my children. I cannot even imagine in this current day what I would be like. One of the worst arguments I had with my husband was about me not letting one of our kids go around the corner to a neighbor’s house alone. I would always err on the side of caution because I didn’t want to live with regret. Like Jochabed, we can do everything in our power to keep them safe such as driving them to school, waiting for the bus, knowing their friends and the homes they visit in and not letting them walk alone. But when it comes time to letting them go, I hope it brings you peace to imagine sending them out in God’s providence and steerage. And pray a lot! Jill Briscoe once said, “…prayer goes where you cannot follow.”
I have to add, that when I read the account of Moses in the book of Exodus, I couldn’t stop thinking about all the mothers who lost their sons in this unconscionable violent act. Just like the Holocaust or Sandy Hook, how do we make sense of it all? Rick Warren in The Purpose Driven Life said, “We experience difficulty, sorrow and rejection in this world. Some of God’s promises may seem unfulfilled, some prayers unanswered and some circumstances seem unfair. Why is that? Because this is not the END of the story.”
In reality, our life here is just a forward to the endless chapters spent in eternity written out by the Author and Finisher of our faith.
