Letting God

“She placed the child in the basket and put it among the reeds along the bank of the Nile.” Exodus 2:3 

“If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again.”  Pharaoh must have heard and heeded this advice, for when his initial population control plan failed, he hatched up another—death by drowning.  “Then Pharaoh gave this order to all his people, ‘Every Hebrew boy that is born you must throw into the Nile’”(Ex 1:22).  Screams of grief filled Egypt’s air as helpless infants were snatched from clinging arms and tossed cruelly in the river.  

One family, descendants of Jacob’s son, Levi, couldn’t bear for their boy to meet such a fate.  The baby was Amram and Jochebed’s third child—their second son, and they were determined to let him live.  For the first twelve weeks of his life, they concealed his presence, cringing when he cried and holding their breath if foreign footsteps slowed at the front door.  But after three months, the baby was too big to hush and hide, so Jochebed bought a basket and made a boat, sealing each crack and crevice with tar, pitch, love, and prayer.   It was time to let him go.

She had faithfully done her part to help him float; now she must trust God to keep him afloat.  “She placed the child in the basket and put it among the reeds along the bank of the Nile”(Ex 2:3).  

As a parent with kids at home (but soon heading out) this really hit home, but children aren’t the only things we need to loosen our hold upon.  We tightly clutch those and that which are precious, and so we should, but when the time comes where circumstances, situations, and the sovereignty of God demand that we relax our grip, we need to “buy a basket,” coat it with loads of love and prayer, place our treasure inside, and put it all in God’s strong hands.

Doing so requires courage, selflessness, faith, hope, love, and sometimes desperation, since the future isn’t certain and the unknown can be unnerving, but when we realize that all good gifts come from God and are for God, we can trust God with what we can’t control.

Jehovah had big plans for Moses, but, first, his mama had to put her baby in the basket.

Be willing to let go and let God.