moment if discovered, we’ve already said, he’ll be slain.  Somehow she manages to place him in the little basket made of reeds in exactly the spot where he would float into the vision frame of the princess of Egypt.  And somehow or other she manages to get her daughter Miriam hidden sufficiently that when the princess discovers Moses….  And sure enough—because he was a, as the Scripture says, a “comely child”—the princess wants to keep him, and the timing of Miriam suddenly slipping forward—because the princess recognized a Hebrew child—and saying “Would you like a Hebrew mother to nurse the child?”  And sure enough—you know the rest of the story—he is raised a prince in the house of Pharaoh and, by his own choice, will lead them out as their Deliverer. 

Now each of these mothers is going to focus this message in a way not everybody’s gonna find it to fit.  This part of the message is to those—and I’m quite sure they’re probably in the minority in this congregation—that are under some stress of circumstance that leaves you helpless and hopeless.  And there certainly are some who will be listening by television.  The message is axiomatic—this earthly mother symbolizes what every mother knows about the never-dying love of a mother.  She will not give up to those circumstances.  She will not accept the inevitable.  She will find a way, no matter what it takes, to deliver this helpless child from circumstances that show no way out.  But she found a way out with her meager resources, slave maiden though she was.  She found with a never-dying, never-give-up love for the helpless—she found a way.  Make the jump: our heavenly Mother—to use that phrase without apology or another explanation—our heavenly Mother, unlike Jochebed, is also the Lord of Hosts.  He has no limits on His ability.  He has all creation at His disposal. 

            All Jochebed tells me is that in that heart of God that made Him reveal Himself in Isaiah 66, “As a mother comforteth, so will I comfort,” in that heart of God is that same love, “If a earthly mother will never give up and never say die and never stop looking until she finds a way to deliver the helpless, how much more will our heavenly Father deliver you?”  That’s the basis of the verse of Scripture that says “He’ll not tempt you beyond what you’re able.”  That’s the basis for the verse of Scripture that says “I’ll never leave you nor forsake you.”  And we’ll see them both again.

Second mother.  That’s God our heavenly Mother in His love for the helpless.  You may be helpless; our heavenly Mother is an all-powerful Helper.  He will not give up.  He will not leave you without help.  Second mother?  I wanna see her in a different light because she’s been so glorified, exaggerated, made divine, that the earthly-mother side of her, which is the true side, is missed.  John 19, Verse 25: Mary—most popular name in the world.  Last time I did the research was a long time ago—1957: there were 3,720,000 women named Mary in this country.  No matter where you go, she’s revered around the world. 

In this book I talk about a trip to Tahiti—a little rundown church on a northern island.  Centerpiece: Mary.  Top and the edge of that plateau-shelf at La Paz, Bolivia, the only place in the world where planes fly up to land—highest airport in the world.  As you leave the airport and see the towering Andes in the distance, you suddenly drop over an escarpment, and the road winds down to La Paz that sits down in the valley under the escarpment.  And coming up that rugged road we had to stop and park.  The procession was carrying the image of Mary with the darts piercing her heart, reminiscent of the sayings of Simeon, and she had been elevated to divine stature by the Catholics.