Let’s face it. The world can be a scary place, especially if you turn on the nightly news. And yet, God’s design…his expectation…is for our children to grow up and lead lives of their own.

            Imagine you are Jochebed.  Your baby is swaddled in the woven basket you crafted especially for him.  You quietly sneak along until you reach the river banks, praying no one notices you.  You pause for a second and think, “Does God really want me to place my child in the Nile River? Does he remember the dangers that lie just below the surface?”

            God didn’t ask Jochebed to tuck her child away in a seemingly safe place.  Instead, he continued to stretch her faith and instructed her to tuck her baby amongst the reeds of the Nile River.  Now, I can think of a million other places that seem like a much better idea.  How about under the shade of a tree, gently swaying in the breeze?  Or what about that whole manager idea? But nope…the Nile River.

            Do you know what inhabits the Nile?  Nile Crocodiles!  Their population is estimated to be somewhere between 250,000-500,000 and the river is full of them!  They are ambush predators and are known to be extremely aggressive and dangerous.  They will eat anything that moves and are known as “man-eaters”.

            Living along the Nile, Jochebed would have been very familiar with the dangers it held.  Perhaps she figured her baby was going to perish one way or the other.  But remember what we learned earlier.  Jochebed was guided by her faith, not fear.  She trusted God.  She placed her baby in the waters of the Nile.  She put her hope and trust in God and then walked away.

1. Do you believe God has a good plan for your child’s life? 
2. Think back to a time when you witnessed God’s hand of protection on your child.  Give God praise for protecting your child then, just like he will do now.

…She put the child in it and placed it among the reeds by the river bank. Exodus 2:3

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,”declares the Lord.  “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.” Isaiah 55:8-9

“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”  Jeremiah 29:11