Adults reading familiar Bible stories:
Predictable. Safe.
Kids reading familiar Bible stories:
Unpredictable. Vulnerable.
As a young mom, Lynnette recently revisited the story of Moses with her four children. Together, they pondered the dramatic moment where baby Moses was set afloat on the Nile river with nothing more than a homemade basket to protect him. The kids expressed an intriguing range of concerns.
SADIE (Age 4): That’s scary, because of crocodiles.
JOSIE (Age 12): Wait! Is the Nile brackish? Because crocs are saltwater reptiles, right?
CALEB (Age 8): Crocodiles are a worry. But did you know that the Egyptians dumped their waste into the Nile and then turned around and DRANK the same water? That’s a bigger worry.
SADIE (Age 4): Whoa. Yeah. So I am NOT going to be living in Bible times. I don't need anyone killing ME as a baby.
It’s easy to read those Bible stories as we adults have perhaps a hundred times or more—and fail to think through this kind of stuff. And you gotta love the kids' blunt honesty.
When Lynnette’s children progressed through the story of Moses and arrived at the miraculous parting of the Red Sea, Caleb commented, “Not sure I would have faith enough to walk through, even if I was seeing it.”
I'm thinkin' Caleb's right.
Isn’t God good to give us teachers—like little children?