Covenant Mercies Out Live Us

Yesterday I was thinking about Moses, and specifically, Moses' mother. This brave lady likely did what she could to hide the fact that she was pregnant in order to hide the subsequent birth and to protect her baby boy's life for as long as possible. By the time he reached the age of 3 months, he could no longer be hidden in the home. How her mother's heart must have ached as she wove the basket she was planning to place him in. How in the world could her baby survive in a basket? He would cry and she couldn't go to him. If he wet or soiled himself, she couldn't be there to change him. If he hungered, she couldn't nurse him except as she was able to sneak away. I am sure the thoughts of crocodiles lurking in the reeds and other hazards troubled her mind as she worked. By the miraculous intervention of God's directing providence, Moses is picked up out of the river and taken in by Pharoah's daughter.

We don't know now long Jochabed lived after turning Moses over to Pharoah's daughter. Did she live to see him a man grown in Egypt? Was her heart wrung by the knowledge that he had become a murderer who ran away to escape the penalty of his sin? We never read of Jochabed beyond the early childhood of Moses. Presumably she didn't live long enough to see her son become the meekest man on earth. Nor did she live to see the deliverance of Israel by God. For me, this story is a potent reminder that God's covenant promises don't need to be seen by us to be fulfilled through us.

Why are you cast down my soul? And why are you disquieted within me? Hope in God, for I shall yet praise Him for the help of my countenance. ~ Psalm 42:5