Sisters: The Five Daughters of Zelophehadናሙና

The Sparrow

Today we are going to do a little detour. This year, on Mother’s Day, I shared a message around the Sparrow with our Church. Let us take the time to unpack this a little more and discuss what it means to truly trust God with all the things in our hearts that are precious to us.

We’ve been gleaning from a woman named Jochebed, the Mother of three very famous characters in the bible; Aaron, the first high priest of Israel. Miriam, a prophetess poet and singer in Israel Moses, the deliverer of Israel.

Jochebed's name means ‘Honour or Glory of God,’ and we know that this woman was a tenacious example of faith in God. She demonstrates how to trust God on the deepest level and with all that we hold dear.

The Israelite people had been enslaved in Egypt for almost 400 years at this point in history. They had become so numerous that they were considered a threat to national security. So a decree was issued that all newborn Hebrew boys were to be thrown into the Nile River. This is the chaotic and cruel culture that Moses was born into. While most women of that era prayed for a son to bring them honor and security in their old age, Hebrew women all over Egypt were likely begging God for a daughter, not a son. Yet Jochebed had a boy.

So she did what all good mums do. She did everything that she could in her power to protect him from the harsh world into which he was born. When she could no longer hide him, she made what was probably the hardest decision of her life: to turn him over to the hands of her Lord literally. I always say, ‘trust is a verb,’ and it’s not trust until it's activated.

It isn’t always easy to trust. It’s super easy to look at all the circumstances surrounding us on this life journey and find ourselves overwhelmed with anxiety and fear. Especially when it comes to our children. But I want you to see today that Jochebed had a real and active relationship with God. She knew His presence. She knew the words of God, and Jochebed literally had to let her child leave her arms, putting all her trust in God.

I have met with women who had to choose to release their children up for adoption for one reason or another, and even though this act was brave and selfless, the pain is horrendous. It is so easy to read through stories of people's lives and not really consider the depth of emotion in their stories. Jochebed prayerfully released her son, trusting God with the result.

Letting your children go is never easy, and it doesn’t happen just once. It happens over and over again. Leaving your child with a babysitter, sending them to preschool or school, seeing them graduate, get married, and move away. Each time is another moment you have to place all your trust in God.

Think of the Sparrow; scripture says not one falls without the Father being aware.

The sparrow is called a common bird in Canada, but there is no law to protect them. You can kill them with no consequence. In the passage, God is saying to us, ‘I see and care for every so-called insignificant sparrow. Then how much more do you think I care for you and all you care about?’ God’s love for us, and all that is dear to us, is quite profound.

I want you to see that Jochebed applies her faith by placing full trust in God. She trusts that He knows every detail. Why is it that we hesitate to trust him?

In Hebrews 11:23, Jochebed and her husband are listed among the heroes of faith… ‘By faith, Moses’ parents hid him for three months after he was born, because they saw he was no ordinary child, and they were not afraid of the king’s edict.’ As we journey through life, all of us—like the parents of Moses—will have our faith tried. The Apostle Peter says, “That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perishes, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ” (1 Peter 1:7).

Jochebed’s faith was rewarded by being reunited with her own child. God’s providence saw that Jochebed would end up being paid from royal funds to look after her own child! This is a clear example of how God gives, provides, and answers more abundantly than we can ever ask or think.

CONCLUSION

Are there any areas of your life today where you know God is asking you to trust Him at a deeper level, take your hands off the wheel and give Him control? Do you need to release your own children to the Lord, trusting that He cares deeply for them too?

I keep going back to this picture God gave me of the sparrow, and my heart is filled again. So I trust Him. Following Jochebed’s example, I release all that’s in my heart to God, the one who can be trusted above all.