The Ark that Jochebed Built
by Mrs. Cathy Corle
“And when she could not longer hide him, she took for him an ark of bulrushes, and daubed it with slime and with pitch, and put the child therein; and she laid it in the flags by the river’s brink.” (Exodus 2:3)
Years ago when my children were very small I wrote this message for Mother’s Day. Not long ago I had it on my mind, and knew that I need to be reminded of the decisions that I made and the beliefs that I held high, and check myself once again to see where I have allowed things to slip. Since I needed it, I’m sure that someone else does, too. Maybe it will be the reminder that we need to get back on track if we’ve gotten away from protecting our children’s hearts and lives and futures in the midst of a wicked world.
There are three arks recorded in Scripture. The ark that Noah built was an ark of deliverance and salvation. (Genesis 6) The ark that Bezaleel built was an ark of covenant and promise that carried proof of God’s provision for His beloved people. (Exodus 37) The ark that Jochebed built was the evidence of a mother’s undying love and watchcare for her treasured child.
In the opening chapters of Exodus we find a heart-touching story of mother and child. She was born under oppression of godless powers, and brought children into the world under that same bondage. She and her husband had lost all of the freedoms and the fruits of their labor as the rule of the wicked Pharaoh continually became more oppressive. Now he would presume to take even their precious children and cast them helplessly into the savage waters of the Nile.
But there was one thing that even Pharaoh failed to take account of, and that was the faith, endurance, strength, ingenuity and undying love found in a mother’s heart. I would like to make an analogy between the situation of this mother, and the predicament that mothers face in today’s world. Egypt is always symbolic of the world’s system, and the ruler of this world is the devil himself. The Nile was the life-line and the central point of activity in wicked Egypt. Like Jochebed, mothers today face a threat just as menacing, the very real possibility of losing their children to the world and the devil. We need to pause and consider the seriousness of its nature.
First, She Hid Him
We cannot afford to underestimate the constant invitation and indoctrination with which Satan daily confronts our little ones. The occult training on the Saturday morning cartoons, the rock music culture, the rebellion and violence of television, drugs, the humanistic philosophies in our schools and colleges all have our children pre-programmed for the devil’s purposes before they ever get to church for a few hours during the week. Unless some godly mothers intervene, our children will be lost just as literally as those who were cast into the Nile long ago.
Consider the fact that soon Jochebed would have to carefully place her child in the same place where Pharaoh had desired to toss him. The Nile was the livelihood in Egypt. The devil desires to throw our children helpless into the midst of the world’s life-line and watch with glee as they flounder desperately and are lost.
I am so weary of hearing people say, “You can’t shelter your children forever.... They have to live in the world and face it someday.” How foolish! Do you allow your baby to crawl into a rattlesnake pit, because he is going to have to learn to watch out for them anyway? Do you let your two-year-old play on the interstate so he will learn to watch for cars? If your only approach to teaching them about danger is pushing them into the midst of it, they won’t survive long enough to have learned the lesson.
The people who would instantly accuse us of criminal neglect if we were to make such a serious error with physical dangers are the same ones who discourage us from properly protecting our children from spiritual dangers. Our children do have to live in the world, just like they have to learn to watch for cars. But before they should be abandoned on their own, they need the protection and training of parents who love them, and the chance to mature and formulate ideals and principles that will guide them through the perils of the world.
A wise mother who truly loves the children God has loaned to her will not allow her little ones to be prematurely cast into the world before they know right from wrong, and before they have developed spiritual strength. First Jochebed hid her little son from the threat of the Nile, and there is a time in the life of every child when we should do the same.
Then She Prepared the Ark
Realizing the danger her child was in, Jochebed set out to change the outcome of the story. In secret she began to prepare the vessel that would save her child’s life. Though she would still have to let him go into the same perilous waters, she vowed to make a way that her child could be in the midst of the river, and yet remain untouched by it. By God’s grace, we must see that our children’s lives are prepared to go into the world without being destroyed by the world.
No gift of giving self, without one doubt,
Can better illustrate the gift of Christ,
Than Mother, who in silence does without
For her child’s good -- A Mother’s Sacrifice.
No one except the Lord who intercedes
More diligently solicits God’s great care,
Than that sweet, sainted soul on bended knee
Who begs in their behalf -- A Mother’s Prayer.
No truer picture men will ever see
Of what’s within the heart of God above,
Than the one whose love will reach out endlessly
Her child cannot outlive -- A Mother’s Love.
Such love, in some measure, is potentially hidden away in the heart of every woman who is called ‘Mother.’ No matter how hurt or disappointed, no matter how deeply buried beneath other cares and concerns, a mother’s love is always available, ever accessible.
Though only God knows the exact formulation, mother-love is made up of a lot of little things we know something about. A list of ingredients might include some things like: That seizing panic that grips her heart when her child faces danger... the certainty that her child is the brightest, handsomest, most talented in the lot... those worrisome tears that often slide silently down her cheeks and into the dishpan...
The frequent inability to sleep at night due to a small child’s fever... 16,000 home-cooked meals... 8400 loads of laundry... 999 trips to the doctor, dentist, orthodontist, optometrist, and hospital... countless school plays, ball games, piano lessons, choir practices, and church activities for which the chauffeur is always (of course) Mom... the consuming desire for them to have every opportunity that she missed... the silent hope that no matter how far into sin they go or how much wrong they do, there is still time and opportunity for them to live a useful, happy and blessed life. Mother-love, just like Jochebed’s ark, is a careful weaving and intertwining of these readily available materials.
But the mother in our story did not stop here, either. She spent much time and effort preparing the ark to keep her child dry in the midst of the mighty Nile. She used the most reliable substance she knew to water-proof the vessel so that her child could be in the dangerous waters, yet remain untouched by them. You and I must follow her example before a child is launched into the world and world-proof the child’s ark.
Try some old-fashioned rules and standards of conduct to world-proof your child’s ark. Try some line-upon-line,precept-upon-precept Bible teaching that brings your little one early to Christ to world-proof your child’s ark. Try some tearful, heart-searching prayer, some Scriptural ideals and principles incorporated into daily life, some heart-to-heart talks with genuine compassion about his childish cares to world-proof your child’s ark.
Any mother with the same concern that Jochebed had can prayerfully seek out the right substances to prevent the world from leaking through to harm her precious child.
She Set Up a Watch
When the little ark was launched with its precious cargo, the mother set up a watch. Only after she had hidden her child away and prepared the vessel did she tenderly, and I am sure very tearfully, place it in those waters and set up a watch.
Even after our children are prayerfully launched into the world, it is still mother’s place to set up a watch that prays effectually, advises wisely, and loves endlessly until death.
It is very true: “The hand that rocks the cradle rules the world.” Although its importance is sometimes overlooked, in every generation there are some godly mothers who share Jochebed’s realization of a mother’s far-reaching influence.
“It is the mother who is a better citizen than the soldier who fights for his country. The successful mother, the mother... training aright the boys and girls who are to be the men and women of the next generation... occupies, if she only would realize it, a more honorable, more important position than any man in the community. The mother is the one supreme asset of the national life. She is more important, by far, than the successful statesman, or businessman, or artist, or scientist.” (Theodore Roosevelt)
May God renew our understanding of the important calling on our lives as mothers, and may we renew our commitment to serve Him faithfully in the same. Only eternity will reveal the missions accomplished or the plan of God realized because of praying, loving mothers.
Years ago when my children were very small I wrote this message for Mother’s Day. Not long ago I had it on my mind, and knew that I need to be reminded of the decisions that I made and the beliefs that I held high, and check myself once again to see where I have allowed things to slip. Since I needed it, I’m sure that someone else does, too. Maybe it will be the reminder that we need to get back on track if we’ve gotten away from protecting our children’s hearts and lives and futures in the midst of a wicked world.
There are three arks recorded in Scripture. The ark that Noah built was an ark of deliverance and salvation. (Genesis 6) The ark that Bezaleel built was an ark of covenant and promise that carried proof of God’s provision for His beloved people. (Exodus 37) The ark that Jochebed built was the evidence of a mother’s undying love and watchcare for her treasured child.
In the opening chapters of Exodus we find a heart-touching story of mother and child. She was born under oppression of godless powers, and brought children into the world under that same bondage. She and her husband had lost all of the freedoms and the fruits of their labor as the rule of the wicked Pharaoh continually became more oppressive. Now he would presume to take even their precious children and cast them helplessly into the savage waters of the Nile.
But there was one thing that even Pharaoh failed to take account of, and that was the faith, endurance, strength, ingenuity and undying love found in a mother’s heart. I would like to make an analogy between the situation of this mother, and the predicament that mothers face in today’s world. Egypt is always symbolic of the world’s system, and the ruler of this world is the devil himself. The Nile was the life-line and the central point of activity in wicked Egypt. Like Jochebed, mothers today face a threat just as menacing, the very real possibility of losing their children to the world and the devil. We need to pause and consider the seriousness of its nature.
First, She Hid Him
We cannot afford to underestimate the constant invitation and indoctrination with which Satan daily confronts our little ones. The occult training on the Saturday morning cartoons, the rock music culture, the rebellion and violence of television, drugs, the humanistic philosophies in our schools and colleges all have our children pre-programmed for the devil’s purposes before they ever get to church for a few hours during the week. Unless some godly mothers intervene, our children will be lost just as literally as those who were cast into the Nile long ago.
Consider the fact that soon Jochebed would have to carefully place her child in the same place where Pharaoh had desired to toss him. The Nile was the livelihood in Egypt. The devil desires to throw our children helpless into the midst of the world’s life-line and watch with glee as they flounder desperately and are lost.
I am so weary of hearing people say, “You can’t shelter your children forever.... They have to live in the world and face it someday.” How foolish! Do you allow your baby to crawl into a rattlesnake pit, because he is going to have to learn to watch out for them anyway? Do you let your two-year-old play on the interstate so he will learn to watch for cars? If your only approach to teaching them about danger is pushing them into the midst of it, they won’t survive long enough to have learned the lesson.
The people who would instantly accuse us of criminal neglect if we were to make such a serious error with physical dangers are the same ones who discourage us from properly protecting our children from spiritual dangers. Our children do have to live in the world, just like they have to learn to watch for cars. But before they should be abandoned on their own, they need the protection and training of parents who love them, and the chance to mature and formulate ideals and principles that will guide them through the perils of the world.
A wise mother who truly loves the children God has loaned to her will not allow her little ones to be prematurely cast into the world before they know right from wrong, and before they have developed spiritual strength. First Jochebed hid her little son from the threat of the Nile, and there is a time in the life of every child when we should do the same.
Then She Prepared the Ark
Realizing the danger her child was in, Jochebed set out to change the outcome of the story. In secret she began to prepare the vessel that would save her child’s life. Though she would still have to let him go into the same perilous waters, she vowed to make a way that her child could be in the midst of the river, and yet remain untouched by it. By God’s grace, we must see that our children’s lives are prepared to go into the world without being destroyed by the world.
No gift of giving self, without one doubt,
Can better illustrate the gift of Christ,
Than Mother, who in silence does without
For her child’s good -- A Mother’s Sacrifice.
No one except the Lord who intercedes
More diligently solicits God’s great care,
Than that sweet, sainted soul on bended knee
Who begs in their behalf -- A Mother’s Prayer.
No truer picture men will ever see
Of what’s within the heart of God above,
Than the one whose love will reach out endlessly
Her child cannot outlive -- A Mother’s Love.
Such love, in some measure, is potentially hidden away in the heart of every woman who is called ‘Mother.’ No matter how hurt or disappointed, no matter how deeply buried beneath other cares and concerns, a mother’s love is always available, ever accessible.
Though only God knows the exact formulation, mother-love is made up of a lot of little things we know something about. A list of ingredients might include some things like: That seizing panic that grips her heart when her child faces danger... the certainty that her child is the brightest, handsomest, most talented in the lot... those worrisome tears that often slide silently down her cheeks and into the dishpan...
The frequent inability to sleep at night due to a small child’s fever... 16,000 home-cooked meals... 8400 loads of laundry... 999 trips to the doctor, dentist, orthodontist, optometrist, and hospital... countless school plays, ball games, piano lessons, choir practices, and church activities for which the chauffeur is always (of course) Mom... the consuming desire for them to have every opportunity that she missed... the silent hope that no matter how far into sin they go or how much wrong they do, there is still time and opportunity for them to live a useful, happy and blessed life. Mother-love, just like Jochebed’s ark, is a careful weaving and intertwining of these readily available materials.
But the mother in our story did not stop here, either. She spent much time and effort preparing the ark to keep her child dry in the midst of the mighty Nile. She used the most reliable substance she knew to water-proof the vessel so that her child could be in the dangerous waters, yet remain untouched by them. You and I must follow her example before a child is launched into the world and world-proof the child’s ark.
Try some old-fashioned rules and standards of conduct to world-proof your child’s ark. Try some line-upon-line,precept-upon-precept Bible teaching that brings your little one early to Christ to world-proof your child’s ark. Try some tearful, heart-searching prayer, some Scriptural ideals and principles incorporated into daily life, some heart-to-heart talks with genuine compassion about his childish cares to world-proof your child’s ark.
Any mother with the same concern that Jochebed had can prayerfully seek out the right substances to prevent the world from leaking through to harm her precious child.
She Set Up a Watch
When the little ark was launched with its precious cargo, the mother set up a watch. Only after she had hidden her child away and prepared the vessel did she tenderly, and I am sure very tearfully, place it in those waters and set up a watch.
Even after our children are prayerfully launched into the world, it is still mother’s place to set up a watch that prays effectually, advises wisely, and loves endlessly until death.
It is very true: “The hand that rocks the cradle rules the world.” Although its importance is sometimes overlooked, in every generation there are some godly mothers who share Jochebed’s realization of a mother’s far-reaching influence.
“It is the mother who is a better citizen than the soldier who fights for his country. The successful mother, the mother... training aright the boys and girls who are to be the men and women of the next generation... occupies, if she only would realize it, a more honorable, more important position than any man in the community. The mother is the one supreme asset of the national life. She is more important, by far, than the successful statesman, or businessman, or artist, or scientist.” (Theodore Roosevelt)
May God renew our understanding of the important calling on our lives as mothers, and may we renew our commitment to serve Him faithfully in the same. Only eternity will reveal the missions accomplished or the plan of God realized because of praying, loving mothers.
