Jochebed

Lord make me like Jochebed. 

I reread the story of Moses’ childhood in my BSF notes this morning and I was struck by this thought: God’s way of doing things is never my way of doing things.  God’s plan to take this child (Moses) from his monther (Jochebed) and have him raised by another person seems counter to me.  I hear myself saying, ‘this cannot be God’s plan, no way.’  But, since I have the advantage of seeing this entire plan unfold, I accept it…in this case…and agree that it is the best plan.

 

If, however, I had been the one asked to give my son to my oppressor, would I have done it?  Would I have been able to give up my baby, get him back, raise him until he was four or five and then give him to Pharoah?  Pharoah!  Maybe?  Let’s suppose I did.  Then I would have watched as he became powerful in all the ways of the world.  I would have watched as he murdered someone and finally as he fled Egypt all together.  I would have been tempted to think that God was no longer in control or not answering my prayers for my son, or at the very least, that my son had screwed up God’s plan for his life.  I, as that mother, would have had to wait 80 years to see that plan unfold.  80 years of prayers, 80 years of waiting, 80 years of trusting!

 

Only after those 80 years passed would I have seen the necessity of my son being raised in Pharoah’s palace, in it requiring murder to get him to flee, and it requiring another 40 years in a desert to make him into a man who could talk to God face-to-face, like one man talks to another.  Only then would I have seen how all the circumstances – together, as a whole – were all required to make a leader capable of standing up to Pharoah (“god on earth”), talking to and obeying the real God, and miraculously leading more than 2 million people out of slavery and into the Promised Land.  A task of this magnitude would require equally great preparation. 

So, the question I asked myself today is: could I wait 80 years and still trust God?  Could I work in a field as a slave for 80 years while I waited for God to work out his plan to save me?  In my petty circumstances, I need to take a lesson from Jochebed.  God’s way of doing things in my life may not be the way I would do them, but I am best off to choose to trust Him.  I can trust him, but will I?  Will I choose to trust God with me, my future, my children and their future?  Just like Jochebed, my baby was taken from me, only to be given back to raise.  Just like Jochebed, I find myself in circumstances I never thought possible or necessary. Just like Jochebed, I find myself waiting for God.  But, just like Jochebed, will I trust Him?  In the long run?  Over the long haul?  Will I stop trying to think, analyze, and figure out exactly what God is doing in this moment, to know its purpose? Will I simply trust and choose to live in the peace of mind that comes from knowing He has a great plan and all of this is necessary for the completion of it?  Will I hang in there and trust that it will be good?  Will I choose to move along gracefully with it?  This morning, I choose to keep on walking – with God, in His plan – through this.  And if I just keep walking, I have a great hope that someday I will see something miraculous, just like Jochebed!