Waking up to the sound of someone throwing up is never encouraging, but I will say it was expected. It is Mack’s turn to encounter the full brunt of the flu. Ruby and Molly have already done so. It was only fair that he get started with this dreadful sickness, and I suppose the sooner he starts, the sooner it will be over.
So this morning, in the middle of laundry and Lysol, I found some encouragement in God’s Word. Lord knows I needed it!
I started the book of Exodus. The second chapter begins, “Now a man from the house of Levi went and married a daughter of Levi. The woman conceived and bore a son; and when she saw that he was beautiful, she hid him for three months.”
Of course, that little baby boy was Moses. We know Moses and all that he did for the Lord over the course of his life. But we aren’t even given his mom’s name here in Exodus chapter two. We learn it later in a geneology passage.
Jochebed is her name. It means “YHWH is glory.” In what ways did Jochebed show her family and the world that Jehovah is glory? How did Jochebed give glory to God through her life as a mom? Wonder how she handled three kids with the flu in the middle of a frigid winter while she was trying to house train a dog and home school her kids?
Several things stand out:
She loved her children.
She did not fear the king, but trusted in God.
She wasn’t selfish.
She listened to the Lord when He let her see something “goodly” in her baby boy, and she surrendered him to the Lord.
So, I asked the Lord to help me show my love for my kids today as I serve them through their sickness. I asked the Lord to give me confidence in His leading with my kids— that I wouldn’t fear what the world says is right for my kids, but that I will trust in the ways God leads me with Ruby and Molly and Mack. I confessed my selfishness and asked for forgiveness. The Lord sure uses motherhood as a sanctifying tool in my life! And I asked the Lord to give me wisdom on how to raise my kids in order that they might fulfill His purposes for them. I want to bring God glory that is due His beautiful name. And I can do that by how I raise my kids. It’s a big deal, this rearing children business.
G. Campbell Morgan wrote this in his commentary on this chapter of Exodus:
“We shall certainly hear stories of men of conspicuous ability and adventure, who have led and directed the movements of the hosts of God. But we shall surely then also discover that these men were often provided and preserved, begotten and nurtured, by men and women of faith. What the whole world owes to the strong and simple fathers and mothers who wrought with God by faith…It is surely a great thing thus to see, at the back of all the subsequent story, this mother hiding a baby, her heart free from the fear of the king, because she believed in God.”
So mamas (& daddies), let’s keep on striving to bring God glory in all we do —even, and maybe especially, while we disinfect the bathrooms for the tenth time this week. Even, and maybe especially, while we wash clothes and change bed sheets. Even, and maybe especially, while we serve our kids their medicine and make sure they’re drinking enough water. Do you believe God is with you always? Do you believe He sees your work? Do you believe He has purpose in pain? Let’s show it by how we live.
Ours is not usually a glorious life, but it is one that can bring glory to the only One that deserves it!
