Raising a Moses:
“And the child grew, and she brought him unto Pharaoh’s daughter, and be became her son. And she called his name Moses: and she
When we think of incredible Bible Characters, we think of many remarkable people of faith. We think of Adam the first man, Noah, and his vast Ark. We think of Jacob and his twelve boys, and Joseph’s time in Egypt, and of course the great leader of Israel, Moses!
What an incredible man Moses was! He boldly stood before Pharaoh on God’s behalf, and he led nearly two million people on the most significant exodus of Egyptian history. Moses was forty days on the mountain with God, where he received the Ten Commandments. Looking at all Moses did in his lifetime, there was much good for the people of Israel! Wow, what a man he turned out to be! Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we could raise a few more Moses in our day and hour! Young men and women who were bold and courageous for God. Young men and women who were determined and full of character!
Looking at Moses story, we find his childhood summed up in just ten verses of scripture. However, amid these ten verses we find three influences that had an astounding effect on Moses and his future! When we consider what it takes to raise Moses I believe we see some of the truths in these ten verses! Now, before I go any further I do want to say, Moses’ Mom was pretty incredible. Not only do we find Moses doing amazing things, but we also find Moses’ older brother and sister doing some incredible things as well! Aaron and Miriam served God, and Aaron became the first High Priest of the nation of Israel! It seems this Mom has some powerful truths to teach us!
1.) To raise a Moses, we must have the right perception of the child and our role in their life:
Look with me at verse two. “And when she was him that he was a goodly child, she hid him three months.”
That phrase a goodly child states that she could see that he would be a good man. She saw something in him that told her the world needed him! From that moment we find that Moses’ Mother set out to keep him alive so he could become the good man God desired.
When we look at our children and the futures they can have we need to be sure that we are looking to God to show us His purpose and intent of their lives! We find that there was something about Moses that even the daughter of Pharaoh saw it! Both Mother’s of Moses perceived that he was capable of great good. How we need a generation of young people to be brought up with a desire to do good rather than make their fortune or live for themselves! How much brighter would our world be if we looked into the face of our little ones and asked God to show us the good that they could do and our part in preparing them for that good work?
Moses was not a product of his own making but of the women in his life that loved and believed in him! If we are going to raise more Moses’ than we must strive to do our part and seek the face of God and do all we can to be that spiritual light and encouragement for them! I might add here that you can’t start early enough! We find Moses three months old in verse two, and already Moses’ Mom believes in the good he will do and praying for him.
2.) To raise a Moses, we must realize that there are hard steps and decisions along the journey of life:
Moses’ Mom knew she would one day have to let him go. That he was never meant to stay in her arms forever. If Moses was ever going to do the great things that she believed him capable of she would have to accept the hard reality that she would have to let him go. In verse three we find the power picture of her preparing to let Moses go. Pharaoh set the decree if Moses stayed home he would have no future. She had to surrender him first and foremost to God. It is important to see the significance of that little ark that held the future leader. It was an ark of his Mom’s making. When she took her baby boy and placed him in that ark on the bank of the Nile river she was giving her baby boy to God. The ark is what we call in theology a “type” or “picture” of Jesus Christ. That only in Jesus Christ do we have a life. Just as Noah, his family, and all the animals sustained life in the ark of Genesis by the grace of God, we find Moses being surrendered to the grace of God as she placed her baby boy into the hands of God. This moment was the catalyst of Moses’ future and hope of life.
Placing Moses in that ark and walking away was no small step for the Mother of Moses! Nor was it an easy step! However, it was the only step that could ensure life for her baby boy! To many of us are holding on to our children and setting them up for a future that is contrary to the path that God ever intended for them. From the very beginning, the life of a child belongs to that of the Lord, and we must be willing to surrender that child to the destiny that God had designed for their life! Letting go is hard! How about walking away! She not only let go of Moses into the hands of God on the Nile but then she had to walk away! You may say I would never walk away … it may be that is what is needed of you one day if you are going to raise a Moses. Not only did she have to walk away at the Nile but one day soon she would have to walk away forever as she left him at the palace! Raising a Moses is full of hard days and some of those days will break your heart. However, if you are going to grow a young person to do something with their life, you will have to endure the hard days keeping in mind that God is able and better days are ahead.
3.) To raise a Moses, we must put our children in the hands of the Lord.
Moses’ Mother recognized that if Moses were going to have a fighting chance in life that she would need to put him in the hands of the Lord. She recognized that she would only be able to keep him so long and that she would only be able to take him so far, at some point he would be out in the world and the only one that would be able to keep him would be the Lord. The same is true for you! One day you are going to look at your baby and realize he is now a young man or she is now a young woman. They will be heading out to the workforce, to college, to marriage and they will need the Lord to guide them! That’s why it is so important now that we get our kids in church, we model our Christian faith before them to authenticate the church, and we take the time to make the scriptures a part of our routine.
Moses’ Mom shows us some valuable lessons in child rearing. She was pretty impressive — two sons and a daughter that served God and made the world a better place. However, as we saw, she was willing to do what she needed to make the necessary impact on her children.
Take a breathe today. Realize you are blessed to have your kids. God gave them to you because He believes in you. God knew you were capable with His guidance and to help to raise your kids to serve Him and make the world a better place as well.