Mother’s Day was yesterday, and I hope you made the effort to make it a great day for your wife.

In my family, we honored my wife, the mother of all seven of our children. She has a busy life just trying to keep up with our kids, some of which are very young and energetic. And she does a wonderful job at it!

In our church, we honored mothers by looking at a biblical example of a great mom. We looked at Jochebed, the mother of Moses, Aaron and Miriam. The Bible only mentions her briefly, and doesn’t spend a lot of time on her life. But in Exodus 1 and 2, we can see a few things about her that I thought were great examples for mothers today.

I won’t give you my full sermon, but just the main outline. You can read about Jochebed on your own to see how she was a mother who deserved honor.

First of all, she was creatively faithful to God.

The Pharaoh ordered that all male Hebrew children were to be thrown into the Nile. Jochebed did so. However, she placed Moses into a floating basket first, and strategically allowed him to float down river into the gaze of Pharaoh’s own daughter. This took faith. It took courage. But it also took a lot of creativity. And when Pharaoh’s daughter found Moses and decided to keep him, Jochebed had Moses’ sister, Miriam, ready to step in and offer their services as a nurse. Creative thinking on Jochebed’s part!

Second, she was full of trust.

She knew that God was in control. Placing her child in a basket and sending him down the river must have been an incredibly difficult thing to do. But knowing God was in charge, she did just that. And she trusted that he would take care of Moses.

Third, she was a mother of influence.

Jochebed was allowed to raise her own son for Pharaoh’s court. She had him for the most influential years of his life. And those lessons stuck in his mind. Hebrews 11 gives us a peek into the influence she had, along with her husband, over her kids:

By faith Moses, when he was born, was hidden for three months by his parents, because they saw that the child was beautiful, and they were not afraid of the king’s edict.  By faith Moses, when he was grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, choosing rather to be mistreated with the people of God than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin.  He considered the reproach of Christ greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking to the reward.  By faith he left Egypt, not being afraid of the anger of the king, for he endured as seeing him who is invisible.  By faith he kept the Passover and sprinkled the blood, so that the Destroyer of the firstborn might not touch them.  By faith the people crossed the Red Sea as on dry land, but the Egyptians, when they attempted to do the same, were drowned.

Those lessons learned in during the first few years of his life did more to shape the character of Moses than anything else in his life. And the writer of Hebrews gives a veiled compliment to Moses’ parents in this passage for being faithful and influential.

Men, your wife has been called to raise your children, and to raise them well. You have been called to the same thing, as well. But the reality is that most of the time, it’s the moms who are in the trenches, raising the kids while you and I are at work, providing an income for our families. You wife, as a mother, deserved your respect and honor. So give it to her this week, all week long!

Be deliberate, men!

What did you do to celebrate Mother’s Day with you wife? You can leave your thoughts in the comments section below.