A Slave Woman, a Basket, and the God Who Is Able — Carol McLeod Ministries

Baskets brimming with the last offerings from our summer gardens are one of the most beautiful harbingers of Fall. We feel it in the air- Thanksgiving is just around the corner.

I plan to decorate my thanksgiving table with an empty basket this year and have the kids choose a piece of produce to place in it as they name something they are thankful for. Our hearts will fill as the basket fills, and a beautiful centerpiece will be the reward for counting our blessings. As I ponder our thanksgiving celebration, a basket that changed the fate of a nation comes to mind. 

It all started with a slave woman, a basket, and the God who is able.

Jochebed, a Hebrew slave, worked making bricks by day and tending her home by night. She lived an unremarkable life in Egypt, until an order was sent that all baby Hebrew boys were to be killed at birth-thrown into the Nile. Dread and fear fell over her like a heavy cloud. You see, Jochebed was pregnant.

I’m sure fear threatened to swallow her as she counted the months down. She probably hatched wild plans of escape when she felt the child move in her womb. But as she cried out to Yahweh, He began to stir her heart with His stories. She remembered how Israel fought battles and won wars against all odds- how lambs were provided in a bush, a man wrestling with an angel received a blessing, another thrown into a well came out a great ruler in a foreign land. And in the haunting of the night- when darkness was deep- her remembering lit a small flicker that grew into a flame of hope. 

The day came and she gave birth to a baby boy. For three months Jochebed hid him until it became impossible. Strangely her heart was filled with an unexplainable peace. She knew that just as God had miraculously given a son to Abraham and Sarah, provided a lamb in Isaac’s stead, and took Joseph from a well to a kingdom- He could save her son.

He would save her son.

We all have faced hopeless circumstances. We try to fix and manipulate, but alas there seems to be no answer. Finances crumble- doctors say no hope- the one you thought loved you forever walks away- your child totters on the brink of self-destruction- or death arrives unexpectedly and too soon. When life is dirty and ugly and bloody- when every Egyptian is set to throw your baby to the crocodiles- “ I Am” bids you to remember and as you remember to trust.

Somewhere along Jochebed’s journey she came to the precipice of that hill. Would she? Could she trust God to save her son? Somewhere in that journey she threw all she had into His hands- into the basket- believing in His goodness and love- His power and presence to do what was perfectly perfect for her son.

Build a basket.

The now familiar voice came to her in the chill of morning before the sun lit the sky. Now she knew His voice well, but- build a basket? Put the vulnerable squirming infant in a basket and float it on the Nile- the place the enemy planned to execute him- among swirling waters and hungry crocodiles?

 Doubt whispered in her ear. This is not God. You need to figure this out. You must hide him. Surely he will die. Fix it, Jochebed. Save your boy.

But Jochebed knew the voice of her God. She would follow His lead.

Jochebed wove a basket out of the reeds that grew by the Nile, carefully covering it with pitch, making sure that every spot was secure. She nursed the hungry infant one last time, kissing him on the head. Little Miriam spied as her mother set the boat afloat amongst the reeds. 

It could have been a tragedy.

It should have been a tragedy.

But……

But this mother was Jochebed. God had chosen her to be Moses’s mother because He knew she would trust Him. She would build the basket.

And look what God does with her trusting heart.

You know this story—God sends Ramses’ daughter at the right place at the right time. He knew that little Miriam would be watching in the bulrushes. He even orchestrated the baby to cry on cue.

Yahweh had this. It was His plan all along. He just needed a Jochebed to bring little Moses into the world – a Jochebed who would seek His face and hear His voice- a Jochebed who would put her heart in a basket at His bidding and set it afloat on the river of Gods promise. He would not only save her son, but though that babe He would save a nation. It all started with an empty basket covered in tar and a mother’s heart who dared trust her God.

This thanksgiving as you sit around your table and count your blessings, there may not be a physical basket sitting in the middle. But that same God asks you today, as surely as He asked Jochebed. 

What do you need to put in the basket?

Will you take the worry and fear that keeps you up at night-the person or situation so near to your heart that you feel you must fix or save- and will you dare to place them into His basket? Hands off, trusting God to save? Our sacrifice of obedience and trust is a gift beyond measure to His heart. In the letting go, He is freed to be our deliverer.

As you journey that path of trust, remember the God from whom all blessings flow-who told Jochebed to prepare a basket and put Moses in it- is the same God who would later use that very Hebrew boy to open the sea and save a nation.

Put it in the basket.

He will always meet you there.

Today Carol is joined by Emily T. Wierenga, author of the memoirs God Who Became Bread, Atlas Girl, Making It Home, as well as the self-help resource Chasing Silhouettes: How to Help a Loved One Battling an Eating Disorder. In 2014, she was used by God to establish The Lulu Tree Foundation, a nonprofit that operates in villages around the world, equipping families to become sustainable through the local church. She is passionate about advocating for the poor and loves traveling to Africa and doing church at a local mental health drop-in center.