Daily devotional, Dec 13, 2023 Moses and Motherhood
"Since then, no prophet has risen in Israel like Moses, whom the LORD knew face to face, who did all those signs and wonders the LORD sent him to do in Egypt—to Pharaoh and to all his officials and to his whole land."
Deuteronomy 34:10-11
Moses might be a strong male figure in the Bible, but we moms have a lot more in common with him than we might have thought of. First, he leads a bunch of people who at times could grumble no end, who can be disobedient, and could just be plain hard to manage (Exodus 16:2-3). Now does that sound familiar to us moms who have to go through days upon days of endless complaints, infighting, disobedience, and sometimes rebellion by teenagers?
Second, Moses can be temperamental (Exodus 32:20). Does that sound familiar too? I am not saying that all moms are, but most of the moms I know have moments when they get overwhelmed and lose patience on their little people. Insert monthly or pregnancy induced hormonal fluctuations, hunger, and lack of sleep and we mothers can lose our temper from time to time too.
The bible however tells us that such anger is frowned upon by the Lord. While we could explain why we have shown anger and disappointment towards the people (or the children) that we lead, there is not enough valid reason to be harsh on them. In the Book of Numbers, Chapter 20, the Lord punished Moses for his misplaced frustration, lack of trust in God, and disobedience:
"And Moses lifted up his hand and struck the rock with his staff twice, and water came out abundantly, and the congregation drank, and their livestock. And the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “Because you did not believe in me, to uphold me as holy in the eyes of the people of Israel, therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land that I have given them.”
Numbers 20:11-12
Instead of just commanding the rock to release waters as God has told Him, Moses out of frustration, struck the rock twice to get water to gush out of it. The Lord was displeased with this, and disallowed Moses to enter the Promise Land.
Like Moses, us moms may have some moments when we get to carried away that instead of just speaking to our children about their offense, we tell them the truth in anger. We yell at them, sometimes give them time-outs or whatever family punishment we impose, because of our frustrations.
And while biblical scholars say that Moses may have been easily stressed due to the recent death of his sister, his emotional vulnerability should not have gotten the best of him. So same with us moms, we should never take out on our children the stress brought about by emotional vulnerabilities like betrayal, loss, financial stress, among others. Instead, we should draw our strength from God.
Matthew 11:28-30 calls us to surrender our cares to the Lord and to follow His example of humility and meekness:
"Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” Matthew 11:28-30
The best standard that we parents can follow as we try to emulate Christ-likeness in our parenting journey is this excerpt from Psalm 103:
"The Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love.He will not always accuse, nor will he harbor his anger forever;he does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities."
Psalm 103:8-10
Just as our Heavenly Father shows us mercy for being present day versions of prodigal children, we too should mirror God’s love and character to our own kids. We should refrain from getting too carried away by the stresses of the moment, and instead when frustrated with their actions (or lack of it), we should pause and think what Jesus would do if He were in your shoes. I am not saying to withhold discipline — even the Bible tells us to keep our children in check– but “commanding” the children to behave well, is different from speaking in harshness and saying the truth in anger.
While Moses may have weaknesses, his failures only show that God sees through our mistakes. That we can still be used by the Lord for His purposes, whatever our flaws are, as long as we are willing to change and abide by Him. Moses may not have crossed over to the Promised Land but the Lord showed mercy on him, allowed him to rest with His ancestors, and raised Him up eventually. Let all of us learn from Moses’ story and focus on his outstanding character traits of strong leadership, humility, and dependence on the Lord. By doing this, we too can gain eternal life with our children:
“There he was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and his clothes became as white as the light. Just then there appeared before them Moses and Elijah, talking with Jesus.”
MATTHEW 17:2-3
Thank you for reading through our devotional today. I invite you to ponder on Numbers 20 and Psalm 103:7-18 to dig deeper on today’s topic.
Reflection Question: Do you have moments of weakness as a mom? How do you vent out your frustrations?
Conversation with the Lord: Almighty Father, thank you for revealing to us character traits you would like us to emulate as we go through our parenting journey. Guide us to become the best parents that you have envisioned us to be, so that we can raise our children in Christ likeness. Amen.