The Hiding of Moses by Faith

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Hebrews 11:23

By faith Moses, when he was born, was hid three months of his parents, because they saw he was a proper child…

I. IT IS A GREAT BLESSING WHEN IN A FAMILY BOTH THE PARENTS HAVE FAITH. "By faith he was hid three months of his parents." Moses himself (Exodus 2.) ascribes this to his mother — "When she saw that he was a goodly child she hid him three months." Stephen (Acts 7.). says, "In which time Moses was born, and was exceeding fair, and nourished up in his father's house three months": thus mentioning rather his father than his mother. No doubt the apostle combined the two other inspired utterances. Do you wonder that Moses chiefly mentions his mother, Joehebed? I do not. What man is there among us but always delights to mention his godly mother, and though we would have no partialities about our parents, yet without controversy great is the mystery of a mother's love, and there are some points about it in which it makes a deeper impression upon the memory than a father's care. Prize fathers as you may, and should, yet there is a tender touch that comes home to every man's heart when he thinks of his mother. It seems natural that Moses should, when he wrote the account, mention most of all his mother; and indeed a mother has more to do with a babe than a father can have: in its tender infancy she is naturally its chief guardian. Perhaps, too, though we cannot be sure, Jochebed. may have been the stronger believer of the two, and may have been the main instigator of the child's preservation.

II. TRUE AND EVEN REMARKABLE FAITH MAY ACT IN A VERY COMMONPLACE WAY. What do we read? By faith they "subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness," and so on. Why these are great things, worthy of mention. Yes, but this also is great in its ways — "By faith Moses, when he was born, was hid three months of his parents." It has no trumpet ring about it like stopping lions' mouths and quenching fires, and subduing kingdoms, but in God's point of view, the hiding of a little baby three months, may be as great an instance of acceptable faith as any of them: even turning to flight the armies of the alien may not be greater than defeating the malice of a king by saving a little child. But you say, "Was it not natural enough that a mother should try to preserve her child's life? Can a woman forget her suckling child that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb?" Yes, I know all that; but still the Lord is not praising the natural affections but the supernatural faith. We should say, "Nature led them to conceal the babe," but God says, "Faith led them to do it," and, in their degree, both are true. Nature prompted, but faith constrained, and enabled them to do what else their timidity would not have ventured upon.

III. FAITH WILL ACT WITH A VERY SLENDER ENCOURAGEMENT. "By faith Moses, when he was born, was hid three months of his parents, because they saw he was a proper child." Stephen says in his speech that the child was "exceeding fair"; and if you look at Stephen's speech you will see that the translators have put in the .margin, "fair to God." So it may run, "when they saw that the child was fair to God." Now, I gather from that expression that the child was beautiful beyond the common run of children; that there was a charm about its features, and something superhuman, probably, since it was fair to God. In the babe's face there were prophecies of the man of God. Surely among them that have been born of woman there has not been born a greater than Moses; and about him as a child there was a something so marvellously beautiful, that his parents were fascinated by him.

IV. FAITH HAS GREAT POWER IN OVERCOMING FEAR. There was, no doubt, appended to Pharaoh's statute a punishment for anybody who should not obey the law. Perhaps four lives were in danger for the sake of that one little life — her husband, herself, Aaron, and Miriam, her daughter. Yet through faith she will run all risks, and so will all her family, that this promising child whom they believe God has sent to them for a noble purpose may still live. Now, if you have faith in Christ manifest it by overcoming all fear of the consequences of doing right. It is right to obey God rather than man.

V. FAITH IS OFTEN DRIVEN TO GREAT SHIFTS. The mother was put to great shifts to hide her child, and she used all her wits and common-sense. She did not put her child in the front room, or carry it into the street or sit at the open door and nurse it, but she was prudent, and acted as if all depended upon her concealing the babe. Some people suppose that if you have faith you may act like a fool. But faith makes a person wise. It is one of the notable points about faith that it is sanctified common-sense. It is not fanaticism, it is not absurdity; it is making God the grandest asset in our account, and then reckoning according to the soundest logic.

VI. FAITH'S SIMPLE ACTS OFTEN LEAD ON TO THE GRANDEST RESULTS. Great wheels turn on little axles. There is a tiny part to each machine of unutterable importance. You never know the infinity of the influence of a word. To the wise man nothing is little; to the fool nothing is truly great. Make all things great by doing them by faith.

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