Are you struggling with sending a child to school this year? If so, I pray that you’ll be encouraged by this story of Moses and his mama and God’s perfect provision and protection.
Do you know anyone who is sending a precious baby off to all day Preschool or Kindergarten this year? Or to middle school? Or to high school? Or to college? Maybe it’s you and your baby. Whether it’s the first, middle, or last child in the family, sending a little one to a full-day-full-room-school-situation is a huge and somewhat fearful experience. It’s been 14 and 15 years since my babies started going to school, but I well remember those thoughts and feelings of that first kindergarten year. {And tbh, I’m having them all over again as I prepare to send my youngest off to college!}Over the years of praying through this post and hearing from other moms who have prayed for their children in this way, I’ve come to realize that the truths God gave me fifteen years ago perfectly apply to any school situation – from Pre-K/Kindergarten to College! I share this post every August, so if you are in this present season of sending a loved one away from your constant supervision, this is for you, precious mom, as you entrust your beloved child to the Father’s most loving capable hands.
The Lord gave me a gift the summer before Nathan started Kindergarten. God had called us to place our children in public school. I thought for sure that I would homeschool, but that was not God’s plan for my family. Even though we knew God called us to public school, my heart was still heavy with concern over “letting go.”
One day, I was studying in Exodus and came upon the passage about baby Moses and his mother. As I prayed through that passage, The Lord brought me great rest and peace about what He had called us to do.
If God has called you to send your “baby” to school this year, I pray that He’ll use His Words to guide you in your prayers for your child, and bring you peace as you trust Him in your obedience. This is what He gave to me so many years ago – and it’s still a comforting truth for me as each new school year begins.
PS: Though it’s entitled “…and the Public School System” of course, it applies to any school situation. This was my personal struggle at the time, so this is how God so graciously addressed it to me. Now that that’s settled… read on. 😉
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and the Public School System
Exodus 2:2-10 (God’s Words are in bold, my prayer response is in italics.)
2) And the women became pregnant and bore a son; and when she saw that he was exceedingly beautiful she hid him for three months.
She kept her child to herself because she saw the beauty in him, and knew that the “world” would neither see nor nurture her precious child.“O Jesus, you know how much I love my children, and how I want the very best for them. They are beautiful not only to me, but also to You. You have blessed me beyond my ability to describe when you allowed me to stay at home and “hide” my children these early years of their lives. Thank you, Jesus.”
3) And when she could no longer hide him
In other words, it was time for him to go to Kindergarten… (or middle school, high school, or college…)
“Lord, the time to put ‘faith into action’ is at hand. You have called my family to public school, and we can no longer ‘hide’ from it. Just less than two more weeks…Help us, dear Jesus, to trust You.”
she took for him an ark or basket made of bulrushes or papyrus,
She built a basket of protection for him with great care.
“Jesus, you have led me to build that basket every day as I love and invest in my children. Thank You that You have helped me build this basket with Scripture prayers for them, time, patience, play, laughter, Godly teachings, acceptance, and joy in my children. Because of You, my son’s basket is almost ready. Thank you!”
making it watertight by daubing it with bitumen and pitch
She made the basket “watertight” where no outside element could easily harm him.
“O Jesus, because of Your love and training of me, You have graciously allowed me to train and love and build healthy self esteem, based on the teachings of Your Word, in my children. Please help them to be ‘watertight’ and ‘insulated’ from the worldly influences trying to seep into their hearts and lives. Please call them to know you at an early age and to be ‘sealed’ by the redemption of Your blood.”
Then she put the child in it
With her heart wrenching, she placed her son in the basket, making him secure in the surroundings she had built for him, trusting that she had done all she could for him.
“Jesus, you know how my heart wrenches when I realize that now is the time to place my son in this basket we have built together. Please help me to believe – I mean REALLY BELIEVE- Your Word that promises You will “never leave, nor forsake” my baby. I am placing him in the basket with You, and covering him with a blanket of prayer.”
and laid it among the rushes (reeds) by the brink of the Nile river.
The reeds: Webster defines “reeds” as the grass stems growing at the edge of the river, and/or “a person or thing too weak to rely on; one easily swayed or overcome.” She placed her cherished child in the midst of, at best, a weak support system.
The brink: The beginning – in my case, Kindergarten.
The river: The public school system influenced heavily by the currents of the “world”.
“I lay my precious child at your feet, surrounded by the ‘reeds, brink, and river’. Thank You that You are going with him, before him, behind him, between him, and through him in this new era of his life. Thank You for the deep peace, joy, and great expectations that this knowledge brings to my wrenching heart!”
4) And his sister stood some distance away to learn what would be done to him.
“Lord, please give me ‘sisters’ in You to watch out for and over my children in every one of their schools.”
5) Now the daughter of Pharaoh came down to bathe at the river, and her maidens walked along the bank;
Pharoah’s daughter and maidens: The teachers and assistants at the school.
she saw the ark among the rushes and sent her maid to fetch it
She saw the basket and rescued it.
“O Jesus, please help my children’s teachers to see the treasure-filled baskets we have placed in the river. Please help them to be drawn to those baskets, seek them out and rescue them.”
6) When she opened it, she saw the child; and behold, the baby cried. And she took pity on him and said, this is one of the Hebrew’s children!
“Jesus, help the teachers to really see our children, their personalities, their strengths, weaknesses and needs. Help them to hear the individual cries of our children, take sweet pity on them, and to realize how valuable they are to You, to us, and to Your work in this world.”
7) Then his sister said to Pharaoh’s daughter, Shall I go and call a nurse of the Hebrew women to nurse the child for you?
8) Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, Go. And the girl went and called the child’s mother.
9) Then Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, Take this child away and nurse it for me, and I will give you your wages. So the woman took the child and nursed it.
The mother is given an unexpected opportunity to have additional influence on her child’s life.
“Lord Jesus, please help me to see and obediently take every additional opportunity You give me to ‘nurse’ my children. Jesus, please help me with my priorities. Please show me the way that I should go (Ex. 33:13), and help me to walk in it. Please help me not to get ‘side-tracked’ and miss the ‘best’ by being distracted with the ‘good’. Please help my focus to be off of me and onto You and Your best for our lives. Please help me to remember that time spent investing in my children’s lives is a ‘gift’ of great ‘wages’ or value”.
10) And the child grew,
“You know the plans You have for my children. Plans to prosper them and not harm them. Plans to give them a future and a hope. (Jer. 29:11) Jesus, I know now that my children will grow through this, and they will be O.K. They will be even better than “O.K.” – they will be victorious! (PTL!!!) They will have been where You instructed us to place them – insulated by us, and protected by Your hands upon their lives. It will all be for their good, and for Your glory (Rom. 8:28). For You and for the remembrance of Your Name – this is our heartfelt desire! (Isaiah 26:8)”
and she brought him to Pharaoh’s daughter and he became her son.
“Jesus, I realize that a day will come when we will be asked to release our children to stronger ‘waters’ than elementary school. But when that day comes, Lord, I trust that You will help us to be ready. O Please help our children not to become ‘sons’ of the world, but of You.”
And she called him Moses, for she said, Because I drew him out of the water.
“Lord Jesus, please help our children’s lives to be significant for You, because of Your instructions to us to place them at this tender age into the ‘water’. Please help them to be known by Your name because YOU have drawn them out of the water and called them Your own. A men.”
God used Moses’ life in mighty ways, and did things through him that He did through no one else. I want God to use my children this way – their lives lived to His power and glory. Baby Moses, kindergarten, and God’s faithfulness ~ What a Trustworthy God we serve! 🙂
I’m praying for all of you who are sending children off to school this month.
“And the Lord said, My Presence shall go with you,
and I will give you rest.” Exodus 33:13
“And when they had done everything according to the Law of the Lord…the Child grew and became strong in spirit, filled with wisdom; and the grace (favor and spiritual blessing) of God was upon Him.” Luke 2:39-40
AND – if you’re so inclined, here is a Smelling Coffee TV episode about this very subject. The video is is below. If you can’t see it below, it is on YouTube at this link.
Smelling Coffee TV – Sending Our Children To School With Peace and Prayers
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