posted by Jim

Are not these the words, in the end, that every Christian parent would long to hear their children say about them?  “O God, we have heard with our ears, our fathers have told us,…”  And, is this not the testimony that God has purposed that every son and daughter should be able to share?

Indeed it is.  Again and again, throughout Scripture we see this divine arrangement – the call for fathers, and mothers, to faithfully teach their children God’s Word and His ways.

Moses declared God’s instruction to the people of Israel,

“You shall therefore lay up these words of mine in your heart and in your soul, and you shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall teach them to your children, talking of them when you are sitting in your house, and when you are walking by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.” Deuteronomy 11:18&19

The Psalmist proclaimed,

“We will not hide them from their children, but tell to the coming generation the glorious deeds of the Lord, and his might, and the wonders that he has done.”  Psalm 78:4

The prophet, Joel, declared,

“Tell your children of it, and let your children tell their children, and their children to another generation.” Joel 1:3

The writer of Proverbs exhorted the younger generations,

“Hear, my son, your father’s instruction, and forsake not your mother’s teaching, for they are a graceful garland for your head and pendants for your neck.” Proverbs 1:8&9

The apostle, Paul, instructed,

“Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.” Ephesians 6:4

Clearly God has purposed that fathers, and mothers, would faithfully and diligently teach their children about Him, so that their children will teach their children, and so on.  In this regard, Charles Spurgeon said, “In this simple way, by God’s grace, a living testimony for truth is always to be kept alive in the land...”

May we be faithful, as parents, to speak of God to our children, when we are sitting in our houses, and when we are walking by the way, when we lie down, and when we rise.  Continually…day after day, month after month, year after year – telling them of the “…glorious deeds of the Lord, and his might, and the wonders that He has done.” Psalm 78:4b

One of our greatest helps in this work will be our own, steady intake of God’s Word.  We cannot teach what we do not know.  And, it is as our cup is filled spiritually, through the intake of and meditation on the Word, with prayer and the accompanying ministry of the Spirit, that God’s truths will most naturally overflow into our homes, in all that we do and say.

Is that not, after all, what we desire, and what God has intended? – not a forced, mechanical teaching of God’s ways to our children, but instruction that pours out of a heart where the Word is already vibrantly abiding.  You will recall, Moses first told the people of Israel, “You shall therefore lay up these words of mine in your heart and in your soul,…” and then, “You shall teach them to your children,…” Deuteronomy 11:18&19

Oh, Heavenly Father, grant us grace that we might know You more, through your Word and by your Spirit, and that our children and their children, and their children’s children, would come to know You, as we speak of You in our homes – today, and every day. 

May the testimony of our children be that of the Psalmist, “Oh, God, we have heard with our ears, our fathers have told us,...”

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