Rewarding Faith - Encouragement Café - May 7

Rewarding Faith
 By Carolyn Dale Newell

“By faith Moses, when he was born, was hidden three months by his parents, because they saw he was a beautiful child; and they were not afraid of the king’s command.” Hebrews 11:23 NKJV

An intimate bond connects a mother and her child. Jochebed risked her life for her baby boy when Pharaoh sought the lives of all male babies. Then she entrusted little Moses to God and set him afloat on the Nile.

This was one faith-filled momma. Rather than obeying the Egyptian ruler, they hid Moses for three months. Centuries later, another baby boy would be hidden in Egypt, avoiding another king’s command to slaughter baby boys. An angel directed Mary and Joseph to flee to Egypt with Baby Jesus to avoid Herod’s bloody rage. This is just one-way Moses is an Old Testament type of Jesus Christ.

For an instant, Jochebed enjoyed her precious Moses. Did men begin searching for the male infants? Did Moses possess a good set of lungs and his parents became fearful that he would be found? Or did God tell them what to do, when to do it, and how it should be done?

Jochebed laid her child in a tiny ark of bulrushes. Did she place him near the bathing spot of the princess purposefully? Big sis Miriam watched the princess send someone to retrieve the tiny boat. When her eyes beheld the beautiful child, he cried. Providential timing. Moved with compassion, she wanted the child to be her own, but he needed a momma to nurse him. Brave Miriam stepped up and offered to find a nursing Hebrew mother.

Jochebed trusted God to protect her family while they safeguarded Moses. She trusted God to preserve her son on the Nile. Anything could have happened to him. Crocodiles could have devoured him. He could have drowned. Hunger, thirst, or evil men could have taken his life, but God watches out for the outcasts. (Psalm 147:2)

Not only did God preserve the future deliverer of Israel, but He providentially returned him to Jochebed. The princess paid Jochebed to raise Moses until he was weaned.

I want the faith of Jochebed. The faith that laughs in the face of fear. The faith that God rewards.

Then Jochebed had to part with Moses again. The day arrived when she had to hand her precious boy back to the princess. How that must have broken her heart, but I believe Jochebed knew Moses was destined for great things.

Can we entrust our most precious people and things to the Lord? Can we release them at His command? Perhaps you feel like the outcast left by the river?

Whatever our situations may be today, we all need to place more trust in our heavenly Father. The Father to the fatherless. The keeper for the outcast. Our God who rewards faith.

How well do you understand providence and preservation? Use a topical index to read more in the Bible about these gifts from God.

Heavenly Father, Increase our faith. Help us trust our precious people to You. When we put You first, we will always be under Your providence and preservation.  In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

© 2019 by Carolyn Dale Newell.  All rights reserved.

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