The Arms of a Princess

The times into which Moses was born would have been terrifying for any Israelite mother. In an effort to halt the numerical growth of God's people, the King of Egypt ordered all Hebrew baby boys be murdered. Exodus 2 gives the account of his mother's bravery:

Now a man of the tribe of Levi married a Levite woman, and she became pregnant and gave birth to a son. When she saw that he was a fine child, she hid him for three months. But when she could hide him no longer, she got a papyrus basket for him and coated it with tar and pitch. Then she placed the child in it and put it among the reeds along the bank of the Nile. His sister stood at a distance to see what would happen to him.

Then Pharaoh’s daughter went down to the Nile to bathe, and her attendants were walking along the riverbank. She saw the basket among the reeds and sent her female slave to get it. She opened it and saw the baby. He was crying, and she felt sorry for him. “This is one of the Hebrew babies,” she said.

Then his sister asked Pharaoh’s daughter, “Shall I go and get one of the Hebrew women to nurse the baby for you?”

“Yes, go,” she answered. So the girl went and got the baby’s mother. Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Take this baby and nurse him for me, and I will pay you.” So the woman took the baby and nursed him. When the child grew older, she took him to Pharaoh’s daughter and he became her son. She named him Moses, saying, “I drew him out of the water.”

As a parent, I don’t believe anyone could love my son like I do. There’s no place safer for him, in my mind, than by my side. Most parents feel that way. Parents have this gift from God to see their kid’s potential more than their problems. So we worry when we send him out into the world that doesn’t readily have the ability to see their strengths.

But even with all this unimaginable love I have for my son, I’m not perfect. I’ve failed him. Sometimes my love for him makes me act a little crazy. Sometimes I react out of tiredness or frustration. Sometimes I don’t say things the way I should and I know I don’t always make the right decisions for him.

I’ve come to realize what Moses’s mother found out: my hands aren’t the safest place for him, God’s hands are the safest place for him. This is the God of whom David would write:

You created my inmost being; You knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise You because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from You when I was made in the secret place, when I was woven together in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed body;  all the days ordained for me were written in Your Book before one of them came to be. How precious to me are Your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them! Were I to count them, they would outnumber the grains of sand— when I awake, I am still with You.

That’s the God Moses’s mother was trusting in. She was trusting in the God who formed and loved her son to protect him. And that’s the same God we have to trust in when we send our babies out into this world of suffering.

The mother did 3 things that I want to highlight and learn from as a parent:

1) She trusted what she had built

The tar and pitch the mother used was the same waterproofing method used on large boats. She was resourceful. The most ideal situation was that he could stay safe with her, but if she had to let him go she gave him the best security and she had faith in this method before she put her baby into the basket.

When the time comes to send our children out, we have to trust in the foundations we have set in them. The Word of God never returns void. Even when you think they aren’t listening. Even when it doesn’t seem to land, keep speaking and praying God’s Word over them because it’s full of power that our own words will never possess.

              2) She released him

It would seem like this mother was taking a pretty huge gamble by placing her baby in the water. But she knew something we forget, with God on our side, it’s never a gamble. 

I believe when she placed the boy into the bank, God’s hand covered him. He wasn’t found by soldiers or Egyptians who were scared to violate the king’s command, nor was he eaten by a wild animal. Why? Because Moses was covered by the hand that had his name engraved upon it. The same hand that has my son's name engraved on it. The same hand that has your child’s name engraved on it.

Yes, God entrusts our children to us. Ours is the hand they get to hold, but we have to place them back into the hand of their Creator. Releasing our children is hard. Whether you drop your child or grandchild off for the first day of elementary, middle, high school, or at a college dorm, God goes before them and He walks beside them. And He has loved them in a way even you couldn’t imagine. He doesn't make mistakes, nor does He respond out of frustration or exhaustion. That's just part of why His ways are higher than ours. 

Moses was kept by the hand of God until he was welcomed into the arms of a princess. God has plans for your children beyond your wildest dreams, but you have to trust him.

              3) When given the opportunity, she took him back in

Moses’ mother didn’t place her baby in the water because she didn’t love him, she did it  out of great love. She knew that keeping him meant certain death, but releasing him at least gave him the opportunity for life. God entrusted Moses to this woman, she placed her trust back in God, and he gave her another opportunity to love and care for Moses. 

How you say goodbye has a lot to do with how often you will say hello to your children. I’ve often said a parent has 18 years to develop the kind of relationship that makes a child want to be around them after they reach that milestone. When God creates opportunity to love and care for them, take it. I believe Moses’s mother exemplified a command we parents would do well to memorize from the Apostle Paul:

1 Corinthians 16:13-14 "Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith; be courageous; be strong.  Do everything in love." 

It's easy to forget that transitions are hard for our children as well. Especially those into adulthood. Mistakes will be made. Fear will manifest as anger and annoyance (probably on both sides), but work to make sure all you do is done in love.