Jochebed Surrenders Moses When the mother of Moses gave the child up, she got him right back again. He was restored to her right away. You could have gone into her home after the day that she laid the child in the ark of bulrushes, and you would have seen the child there. It was still there. She still had the child even though she had given him up. And so, dear friends, with us. You and I when we consecrated ourselves to the Lord gave it all to him, but we have it yet. We gave him our hands and feet, but we have them yet. We gave him our sight and hearing, but we have them yet; we gave the Lord our mind, but we have it yet; we gave the Lord our tongues and lips, but we have them yet; we gave the Lord our money, but we have some of it yet; we gave the Lord our loved ones, but we have them yet; we gave the Lord all that we had, but we still have it. But notice, when the mother of Moses got her child back, he was not her own any longer; he was royal property; he was a royal possession. So when you and I after consecration receive back all that we surrendered, as it were, it was not ours any longer, it was royal property, it was a royal possession—not the property of Pharaoh or his daughter, but the property of the great King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Just like the mother of Moses, from that day onward she could look at that child and say, "This child was mine once, but he is not mine now; this child now belongs to Pharaoh’s daughter; he belongs to the royal family, and I am merely a stewardess, I am merely intrusted with him"—so with us: we look at all we had and we say, like the mother of Moses said, "Well there was a time that these hands used to be mine, but now they belong to the King; there was a time when this money was mine, but now it belongs to the King; there was a time when these feet were mine, but now then they belong to the King; there was a time when my mind, my sight, my hearing, my tongue, were mine, but now all of these things belong to him." We have given them all to him, and we are merely a steward entrusted with those things. —Excerpted from "Lessons from the Life of
Moses" |