Living a Life of Courage

What a name! “Jochebed.”

Ever heard of her? Don’t feel bad. Most haven’t.

Jochebed’s story is one of the clearest pictures of courage in Scripture. She was the mother of Moses. In a season where fear ruled Egypt and Hebrew baby boys were marked for death, Jochebed refused to surrender her son without a fight. She hid Moses as long as she could. She protected him with everything she had. She crafted a basket, sealed it carefully with tar and pitch, and placed him among the reeds of the Nile. Every detail was intentional. Every action was an act of love.

But eventually, courage required something even harder.

She had to let go.

Ever been there? Imagine the weight of that moment. A mother placing her baby into a river she could no longer control. Jochebed could build the basket, but she could not steer the current. She could prepare Moses, but she could not protect him forever. At some point, her faith had to go farther than her hands could reach.

Like a fork in the road, that is where courage and surrender meet.

Many times, we think courage means holding on tighter, fighting harder, and controlling more. However, biblical courage is trusting God when we no longer have control over the outcome. It is doing everything we can do and then entrusting the rest to God.

“Let go and let God” sounds simple until you are standing at the edge of your own “Nile River.”

Maybe it is your child, your future, your career, your marriage, your health, your calling, or a prayer you have carried for years. We want guarantees. We want certainty. We want clarity. We want to know how everything will turn out before we release it into God’s hands. But faith doesn’t work that way.

Jochebed teaches us that surrender is not weakness. It is courage in its purest form.

She trusted that the God who gave her Moses was able to protect him better than she ever could. And God did more than preserve Moses’ life. He raised him up to become a deliverer for an entire nation.

Listen closely: What if the one thing you are struggling to release is the very thing God wants to use for your good and for His glory?

Courage means obeying God even when your fear is louder. Courage means trusting Him with your unanswered questions. Courage means believing that His hands are safer than your control.

Sometimes faith looks like building the basket, and sometimes faith looks like placing it in the river.

Both require courage!

Today, God may be asking you to release something you have been gripping tightly. Not because He wants to take it from you, but because He wants you to trust Him with it. The same God who watched over Moses in the Nile is the same God who is watching over you now.

You may not control the current, but you can trust the One who does.