The influence of a God-fearing mother

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Most of us are probably familiar with the saying: "Behind every strong man stands a strong woman." Of course, we understand the meaning of this saying fundamentally differently than what this world understands by it.

In contrast to this world, the strength of our wives does not lie in their emancipation, their intellect, their education, or any other outstanding abilities, but in their trust in God and His strength, their unwavering faith, their prayer life, and their devotion to the Word of God. In short, in their fear of God, as it is written: “They trust in chariots and horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord our God” (Psalm 20:8) .

And yet, when we seriously reflect on it, we can gratefully acknowledge to our Lord what wonderful and strong wives He has blessed us with. A servant of God, in particular, can appreciate the immeasurable service our wives provide.

Often unnoticed in the background, but without complaint, they bear the brunt of the burden of managing the household and raising the children, thus making their husbands' service in God's church possible in the first place. They carry them in prayer and provide crucial support within the family. Therefore, my prayer today is that the Lord may bless, strengthen, and build up our wives according to the riches of His grace, so that they may neither despair nor become discouraged, but know that their work is not in vain in the Lord and brings with it a rich reward ( cf. 1 Corinthians 15:58 ).

Her role as a mother

However, in addition to their roles as wives and helpers, women often also have the role of mothers. In this capacity, they have a tremendous influence on the personality and later life of their children. This influence can be both positive and negative. Even the Holy Scriptures do not conceal this influence from us, which I will discuss in more detail later using some examples.

Both in the Bible and in our Christian community, we can observe that behind great and blessed men of God, there is usually not only a strong wife, but also a God-fearing mother from their earliest childhood. These mothers, through their living example, left a profound mark on the hearts of their children, thus significantly shaping their later lives.

A Russian song says, " Mama, you led me to God and into the church of God. " It's not without reason that a mother is called the first evangelist in a child's life. The first sermon we heard about Jesus was our mother's sermon. The first prayer we heard was our mother's prayer. Our mothers taught us how to pray and taught us to trust in the Lord.

The Word of God reminds us that we are a letter from Christ, recognized and read by all people ( cf. 2 Corinthians 3:2-3 ). The first letter, or rather the first book, a child reads, even before learning to read, is the behavior of its mother! For this reason, a God-fearing mother feels her deep dependence on God and the need for an intense prayer life before Him, so that He may grant her daily wisdom and strength to be a positive example to her children, through her words, her behavior, and her life, of what is called a godly way of life.

One such mother was Jochebed (the mother of Moses), whose example I would now like to discuss in more detail.

Jochebed, a fearless mother, defied Pharaoh's command (cf. Exodus 2:1-10)

Moses' parents were Amram and Jochebed. They both came from the House of Levi and thus descended from the later priestly lineage of Levi. As such, they believed in and feared the God of Israel. Besides Moses, the couple had two other children – Aaron and Miriam. All three children became important figures in the history of Israel. But God was to use Moses in a special way. God chose him as His instrument to free His people after 400 years of captivity in Egypt and lead them into the promised land.

But before that, Moses' birth was under a decidedly bad omen. Pharaoh feared the people of Israel because, under God's blessing, they were multiplying and growing exceedingly strong. And so he commanded that all sons born to the Israelites should be thrown into the Nile. Jochebed, however, who believed that children were a gift from God (cf. Psalm 127:3) and therefore all life was worth preserving, defied Pharaoh's order and hid her child for three months (cf. Exodus 2:2). "When she could no longer hide him, she made a basket of reeds and sealed it with resin and pitch. She put the child in it and set the basket among the reeds on the bank of the Nile" (Exodus 2:3).

The Bible doesn't tell us at this point whether Jochebed knew what special role and task God had assigned to this infant, but something within her must have been convinced of it. For in Hebrews it says: “ By faith Moses, after he was born, was hidden from his parents for three months, because they saw that he was a beautiful child; and they were not afraid of the king’s command ” (Hebrews 11:23). It should be clear that this is not merely about outward beauty, although the Word of God uses that expression, but rather about a belief that this was a special child in the eyes of the Lord. MacDonald aptly comments on this: “This must mean that they had received a revelation that this child had an important task, for faith must be based on a revealed Word of God” (William MacDonald – Commentary on the Old Testament). And this faith and this revelation gave the mother the strength to fearlessly defy the king's command, to trust in God regarding her son's future, and to gain wisdom about how she could save her child's life.

The fact that she placed her child in a small reed box sealed with resin and pitch and set it adrift in the Nile testifies to her deep trust in God. She believed that this little box, with God's help, could protect her son from the dangers of the Nile, just as Noah's Ark had saved his family from the floodwaters. She didn't know exactly how the rescue would happen, but she trusted completely in God and His guidance in this matter, and she was rewarded.

For God orchestrated events so that Jochebed herself would have the privilege of raising her son. And none other than Pharaoh's daughter herself asked her to do so (see Exodus 2:9) – the daughter of Pharaoh, who had ordered the death of all the male children of Israel. What wonderful providence from God! “When the child was grown, she brought him to Pharaoh's daughter, and he became her son. She named him Moses, for she said, ‘I drew him out of the water’” (Exodus 2:10) .

Get the boy used to it

It is not known how old Moses was when his mother handed him over to Pharaoh's daughter. However, verse 9 suggests that it must have been after he had been weaned. Since breastfeeding generally continued longer in ancient times than it does today, it is assumed to have lasted about three to four years. Moses must therefore have been around this age. But before Moses' mother weaned him, she managed to instill in him a habit—something that would later become very important in his life.

Proverbs says, “Train up a child in the way he should go, even when he is old he will not depart from it” (Proverbs 22:6). The STAMPS Study Bible commentary on this verse reads as follows: “The word translated here as ‘train’ (Luther: ‘train’) literally means ‘to consecrate’ in Hebrew. Christian education, therefore, aims to consecrate our children to God and His plans. This includes helping them deal with the bad influences of the world and teaching them how beneficial it is to adhere to God’s standards. The root word ‘train’ can also mean ‘to make something appealing to someone’ or ‘to help someone develop a taste for something.’ That is, parents should expose their children to positive experiences with God that encourage them to discover and appreciate God’s purposes for their lives.”

The Bible doesn't answer the question of how, but from the subsequent course of Moses' life, we see that Jochebed succeeded admirably in consecrating him to God in this way. Even before she had to hand him over to Pharaoh's daughter, she had already instilled in him a deep love for God and His people, profound trust in God, and a strong faith, so that he could not abandon it when he grew up. Of him it says in Hebrews: " By faith Moses, when he had grown up, no longer wanted to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter. Rather, he preferred to be mistreated with the people of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a time. He considered the reproach of Christ greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt, for he looked to his reward " (Hebrews 11:24-25).

What a powerful testimony to the workings of God's grace!

An unbelievable swap

But what exactly was Moses renouncing? What did it mean that he no longer wanted to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter? As the adopted son of Pharaoh's daughter, Moses was a member of the royal family of Egypt, the most powerful and glorious kingdom of that time. As such, he enjoyed the best possible education, a high social standing, fame, wealth, and luxury—everything that people on Earth strive for. Perhaps there was even the prospect of succession to the throne. Moses had excellent prospects for the future. Isn't that what every mother wants for her child: a good education, financial security, professional success, and so on? In short, a thoroughly secure future.

But not Moses. He voluntarily renounced all these privileges and advantages. But for what, and why? Scripture says that instead, he “ would much rather be mistreated with the people of God than enjoy the pleasures of sin for a time. He considered the reproach of Christ greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt, for he looked to his reward ” (Hebrews 11:25-26). What folly for the natural man; and what wisdom from God! Dear mothers, where did Moses get this faith, this hope, and this confidence? The answer lies in his childhood. It was his mother who told him about the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. She had told him that he was a member of another royal family, whose (heavenly) kingdom is far more powerful and glorious than any earthly kingdom could ever be. And not through adoption, but by birthright. She told him about all the promises God had made to His people and the glorious future that awaited all of God's children (in eternity). With her fear of God and her trust in Him, she managed to give him a taste of heaven and the delight of a living and trusting relationship with God. This impression was so strong that identifying with the suffering and mistreatment of God's people seemed more precious to him than the temporal excesses and treasures of Egypt. Through faith, he was able to recognize that the greatest treasures and riches of this world have no value in the light of eternity and that " the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us" (Romans 8:18) .

Education with relevance for eternity

The further development of Moses is well known to us. After God had subjected him to His own training for 40 years in the land of Midian, He used him to an immense degree for His glory. According to Scripture, Moses was " a very humble man, more than any man on earth" (Numbers 12:3) . It is also said of him: "And there arose in Israel no prophet like Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face, with all the signs and wonders with which the Lord had sent him" (Deuteronomy 34:10-11) . To this day, Moses is the greatest and most important prophet in Judaism. Without him, there would probably be neither Jews nor Christians, let alone the State of Israel. The foundation of this great man of God, however, was laid in his family home, above all through the positive influence of his God-fearing mother!

As mentioned at the beginning, the Bible also tells us about negative influences mothers have on their children. However, since I primarily want to focus on the good, I will only briefly discuss a few examples from Scripture.

Godless kings and their mothers

Alongside a number of good and pleasing kings, there were also godless kings among the people of Israel and Judah who turned away from the Lord and led God's people into terrible idolatry. In doing so, they angered the Lord and brought God's judgment upon themselves and the people. But what connection do the mothers of these kings have with their conduct before God?

The fact that in the vast majority of accounts of the kings of Israel and Judah, the names of their mothers and their origins are also mentioned, suggests that a connection between the influence of the mothers and the kingship of their sons is being recognized.

The example of the king Ahaziah shows us the devastating influence a mother can exert. The first Ahaziah is the son of Jezebel. God speaks of her in the Book of Revelation to the church in Thyatira as follows: “But I have this against you, that you tolerate Jezebel, that woman who claims to be a prophet, and who teaches and seduces my servants to practice sexual immorality and to eat food sacrificed to idols” (Revelation 2:20) . Of her son, it is said similarly: “He did what was evil in the sight of the Lord and walked in the ways of his father and his mother […] and served Baal and worshiped him and provoked the Lord, the God of Israel, to anger, just as his father had done” (1 Kings 22:53-54) . Previously, Jezebel had already exerted a bad influence on her husband Ahab and led him into idolatry. And her bad influence was also clearly evident in the life of her son.

The second Ahaziah was the son of Athaliah, who was a daughter of Jezebel. She, too, had previously exerted a negative influence on her husband Joram (2 Kings 8:18) , and subsequently on her son. In 2 Chronicles, her negative influence on her son is even explicitly highlighted, stating: “He also walked in the ways of the house of Ahab, for his mother encouraged him to be wicked” (2 Chronicles 22:3) . What a terrible judgment awaits parents who not only set a bad example for their children but directly encourage them to be wicked! This example clearly demonstrates how far-reaching the consequences of a negative influence can be.

The third and final negative example is King Abijah. He was a son of Maacah, of whom it is said that “he walked in all the sins of his father that he had committed before him” (1 Kings 15:3) . At first glance, it is not apparent how Maacah could have exerted a bad influence on her son Abijah. However, in the reign of his brother Asa, who, incidentally, did what was pleasing to the Lord, we can see that she too was an idolater. Asa deposed his mother as ruler because she had made an Asherah pole (cf. 1 Kings 15:13) .

Final thoughts

As we have hopefully seen, parents, and especially mothers, have an enormous influence on their children. May God therefore help mothers to leave a lasting impression on their children's hearts through their holy and godly lives, thus having a positive influence on them. May they succeed in planting a living faith in them, giving them a foretaste of the glory of heaven, and teaching them to keep their focus on the reward, so that they cling to the One they do not see as if they saw Him. Finally, may God keep them from having a negative influence on their children through an unholy or frivolous lifestyle, thereby causing lasting harm to their own conduct before God. God bless you, dear mothers!

Andreas Kindler
Ramstein municipality

 

Unless otherwise indicated, Bible quotations follow the translation by Martin Luther (rev. 1984).