Devotional Series: The Crown within the Cross
Lessons from the life of Jochebed- Your suffering will bear fruit.
In life, we are all searching for purpose, fulfilment and growth. Even for those who feel settled in what their specific life purpose and mission is, the real test comes to us when faced with setbacks, obstacles and trials. Will we be just as hopeful, dedicated and committed to our God given purpose in times of suffering and loss as we were in our seasons of plenty? When life brings us thunderstorms, cloud and rain, how can we see through the hazy path ahead enough to believe that even this is leading to our most glorious days?I imagine that there are only a few who can say as did Paul in our not so ‘instagrammable’ moments that we furiously believe that “our light affliction, which is but for a moment” actually “works for US a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory” (2 Corinthians 4:17). Yet, that can be our experience. We serve a God that can create light from a vacuum of dense darkness and human beings the crown of creation, from the dust of the dirt. Our suffering and our pain can be channelled into the formation of plenteous fruit in our lives. Each individual fruit have their own unique requirements for growth, different environments, terrains and minerals are needed to produce its bounties. The fruit born from painstaking effort and labour, is more highly prized and valued. There are some things we would never have learnt, had we not been in the school of suffering. There are people and lives we may never had reached our encountered had we not persevered through those trials. Jochebed’s trial, produced fruit in the life of Moses and that same faith exercised in us, can do the same.Last week, we explored how to identify the way of escape that God gives during our trials. Faith and works are both needed for us to recognise and accept God’s plan. Faith in His sovereign hand works in us the diligence to practically step forward in the way of providence. Let’s explore this even deeper as we continue to learn from the life of Jochebed.
Exodus 2:5-65 And the daughter of Pharaoh came down to wash herself at the river; and her maidens walked along by the river's side; and when she saw the ark among the flags, she sent her maid to fetch it.6 And when she had opened it, she saw the child: and, behold, the babe wept. And she had compassion on him, and said, This is one of the Hebrews' children.
After the agonizing decision and sacrifice Jochebed made to let Moses go, she left the ultimate outcome in God’s hand. Her faithful discharge of duty which was to place Moses in that basket by the river’s bank, was another testament to her faith. In Inspiration we are told about Jochebed that:
She dared not remain to guard it, lest the child’s life and her own should be forfeited; but his sister, Miriam, lingered near, apparently indifferent, but anxiously watching to see what would become of her little brother. And there were other watchers. The mother’s prayers had committed her child to the care of God; and angels, unseen, hovered above his lowly resting place. – Patriarchs and Prophets 243.1
Whilst Jochebed did not stay by the river to watch what would become of her child, God used someone else. Jochebed’s way of escape, required her to exercise complete faith continually in God and His plan. In her faithfulness, it allowed Miriam to play the role that God had assigned for her to play in the preservation of Moses’ life.
Our lingering can delay the blessings God has in store for us.
If Jochebed had lingered, she may have faulted in her faith, taken Moses out of that basket and whisked him off to another place of hiding. How many of us in taking God’s way of escape which requires us to trust and submit to Him in our trails, look back on our decision and take upon ourselves the burden of worry. We linger by the river edge of submission, halting between what we know we should do and what we feel like doing. Our lingering can delay the blessings God has in store for us. I can only imagine what could have been going through Jochebed’s mind, a woman with like passions as us. I’m sure there were questions and fears she had to grapple with, she did not know there and then how the story would end. However, in her decision to surrender her suffering and pain to God, she opened the door for blessings to come to her as well as to others, even those who had caused her suffering.
“Angels directed Pharaoh’s daughter thither. Her curiosity was excited by the little basket, and as she looked upon the beautiful child within, she read the story at a glance. The tears of the babe awakened her compassion, and her sympathies went out to the unknown mother who had resorted to this means to preserve the life of her precious little one. She determined that he should be saved; she would adopt him as her own.” – Patriarch and Prophets 243.1
Pharoah’s daughter, an Egyptian unquestionably was aware of the decree her father had made. She probably would have heard her father gloating about the fear he had instilled in the hearts of the Israelite people as result of his decree and the abject slavery he had placed them in. No one can say what her personal views of the situation was as that is not open to us. Yet, God guided that basket to Pharoah’s daughter. God’s path of providence and His way of escape brought the babe Moses directly into the hands of his greatest earthly threat. Let’s think about this and let our minds dwell on that point. Out of all the people God could have used to preserve Moses’ life, God used the very ones who was seeking his destruction. It does not make much sense to our human wisdom. Did God really tell Jochebed to make a basket to preserve her son’s life to only deliver him straight into the hands of his enemy? In many ways it was a blessing that Jochebed did not linger to watch that basket drift towards the Egyptian palace!
God’s path of providence and His way of escape brought the babe Moses directly into the hands of his greatest earthly threat.
Pharoah’s daughter immediately recognised that Moses was an Israelite, so on all accounts we would expect that his discovery would have led to his death. What may seem like certain suffering and loss to us, appears very different to the Lord. We may think that all hope is gone, whilst God sees this as only the beginning. Surely God was also wanting to reach the heart of Pharoah and his household, for he desired their salvation too. In bringing the innocence child to the attention of Pharoah’s daughter, her heart was touched in a way that could not have been had Jochebed not taken the way of escape, the path of suffering and pain. Moses’s exposure to the wealth and grandeur of the royal court worked to solidify him in his identity as a child of God, an Israelite. The suffering and pain Jochebed endured, launched Moses into his life mission and work. Her sacrifice and faithfulness stands true to the fact that crowns are formed from crosses, that pain is preparation for achieving greater purpose and that faith triumphs over fear.
Genesis 50:20
20 But as for you, ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive.
Jochebed’s way of escape, involved God using the very ones that inflicted her pain, the Egyptian nation. The decree issued from the hands of the King of Egypt meant for the destruction and suffering of the entire Israelite nation, lead to the birth of the one whom God would use for their deliverance. It’s somewhat easier for us who are reading this account generations later to see the working of God throughout Jochebed’s experience, but that’s with hindsight. Jochebed did not have the benefit of hindsight, but she had the blessing of faith. Faith that is clearer than sight and lives in the reality of the hoped-for blessing. God’s ultimate overarching purpose through Jochebed’s suffering, bore the most fruit years later. She did not get an opportunity to witness and relish in the fruits of her suffering, but we do. Her suffering was not for nothing, for it bears fruit in us. Fruits of hope, faith, courage, boldness and love.
Romans 8: 28
8 And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.
