Most—if not all—parents want to see their kids have an easy and blessed day, so we often pray that over them. But the reality is that our children will not always have good and blessed days. They'll get sick. They'll have to face bullies. They might even encounter problems as young as they are.
If we had to pray for our son or daughter saying, "Lord, I pray that you would be with my child through all the problems he or she encounters," we'd probably stop in our tracks. The problem with a prayer like that is that it's as if we're praying that problems and trials come their way, and that just sounds like an awful prayer for a parent to pray. But is it really?
I don't think any parent will have to pray for trials and problems to come into a child's life. It will come. Jesus says in John 16:33b that "...in the world you will have tribulation" (ESV). Trials are expected for everyone.
But most parents don't want that for their kids. We want to be there to pick them up when they trip and fight the bad guys for them. While that's noble, it's not always good parenting. God designed life to get rough sometimes because that's His way of helping us grow in character and faith—and it's no different for your kids. James 1:2–3 tells us, "Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness" (ESV).
It will not always be an easy journey for your child as he or she goes his or her way. School will get hard, friends will be offensive and hurtful and they will lose some games they join. But that's part of life and that's part of God's way of moulding them into the men and women He has called them to be. It's God's way of teaching children to rely on the power of Christ as early as possible to get through the tests of the day.
Hebrews 12:5b–6 says, "My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor be weary when reproved by him. For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives" (ESV).
Now, it's never going to be easy to pray this prayer over our kids and watch them deal with the waves of life. That's why we need God's grace and His strength to persevere with our children. Imagine what it was like for our Heavenly Father to watch His only son die on a cross for all mankind. It must have been hard and God could have at any time taken Him off the cross and zapped every Roman soldier in sight.
But instead He watched and allowed Jesus to suffer because it was His destiny to do so. I don't pray for the day my children will have problems, but I do hope that God give them the strength to face the challenges He will bring to them—because He will. And when that day comes, we all need the grace and strength through Christ to face those trials.
