Date - Dec/85

Contributor - Abram Blaak

Title - Educating Our Children

Topic - Education

I feel so blessed' Laughter fills our home since God has blessed us with two happy and healthy children. Each of these is becoming wiser, learning from the people and situations around them. While coming to us with very little, it is not very difficult to see how quickly they learn.

King Solomon also noticed this. In Psalms 127, he shows us how God intends us to see our children, and how we are to educate them.

The very first things Solomon points to are those who are doing the teaching the builders of the home. "Unless the Lord build the house, those who build it labour in vain" (vs. 1). The very first things, building upon the principles, the teachings of the Lord. Jesus points to it when He speaks of the wise and foolish men in Matthew 7:24ff. Building our homes on the firm foundation of Jesus Christ, and His principles is the kind of home that the Lord God will bless, the kind of home of which we can say, "The Lord built that home". Christian parents need to realize that they labour in vain to teach their children the lessons of God, the will of God, even should they be simple Bible stories, if they themselves disobey the word of God. Our homes will not be different from any other homes without Jesus, unless Mom and Dad build upon the Lord Jesus Christ.

Solomon is so convinced of that point, that the rest of the verse I and verse 2 state that this is a principle all over our lives - from home to work, to our cities, and so on. And when we are convinced of it then what we read in the rest of the Psalm will become even more important.

Solomon reminds us that children are a "heritage of the Lord, the fruit of the womb a reward" (vs. 3). The source of strength of a home, a church, a nation, lies in the family, and the King praises children as a gift entrusted by God. "Heritage" reflects the Old Testament concept of family, which is deeply rooted in religion. It takes seriously the fact that GOD is the One who opens and closes the womb, and that each child is by design of GOD, with a purpose to the glory of GOD. Our response to them needs to be biblical.

Solomon writes, "Like arrows in the hand of a warrior are the sons of one's youth" (vs. 4): Looking back at the Hebrews, warriors delighted and built their arrows, one at a time. He picked out the proper wood, knew all its curves, he added the arrow head he had built for this one particular arrow, and proper feathers were added to its tail. The warrior knew that when he fired that arrow in battle, how it would react, how far it would fly, and how it would have to be fired to reach its target. It took time, effort and planning to get a quiver full of arrows (a quiver full is about 5 arrows).

So it is with a child. Children born in one's youth are like those arrows which are able to defend and protect him when he is older and in need of support. And like each of the arrows, each child will come to our homes quite differently. Yet, Mom and Dad, it is your responsibility to build this child to become an arrow in your quiver. These are children who learn from you the ways, the truth, and the love of God, and will walk in them all the days of their lives. Why? Because they have seen you live that way, and the-y hear from you the praises of the Almighty God.'

In fact says Solomon, when we teach our children the ways of the Lord, they will be able to answer" his enemies in the gates". From the Book of Ruth we find that it is in the gates of a city that all the decisions of a town are made. It is the wise man who sits in this gate, who gives council. The man and the woman who treat each child like a separate arrow will raise children who will be able to withstand and overcome the enemies of God. And, if there is anything the Church and this world need today, it is those who are able and willing to stand and overcome the enemies of God. Like the arrow they will go for the heart and be winners.

This comes only when we equip our children for the task. It does not come by simply wishing it or even praying for it. It comes through deliberately teaching our children the ways of God, and the principles by which He desires us to live.

There is a text which nearly every parent claims before God. It is found in Solomon's Proverbs (22:6) - "Train up a child in the way that he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it". The Hebrew word for train means "to rub the palate" of a child. Before there were strained baby foods, mothers would chew the food and then carefully take that food and rub it to a child's palate so that he could eat it. She was giving something to that child that she not only liked, but found important. That is what the text is saying. To ensure a straight arrow, one that will be able to fly and will be able to withstand the enemies within the gates, parents need to give their children the things that they feel are important, that which they would not live without. There is no doubt that Solomon is saying that this is God',, way. How you live, parents, how you speak how you react to situations, what you say about others, how you worship the Lord - all these will show your children what you hold dear, what it is you cannot and will not live without, And whether you know it or not those are the things you are rubbing into the palates when they are young, and those are the things they will not depart from, when they grow older.

Often parents wonder what they have done wrong because their children have "wandered away". Check to see what it is you are feeding them, how you are building your arrows. Through hard work and prayer we can build ourselves a Church and a nation where there are young people who will defend the ways of God, and who will teach their children to love Jesus and sing His songs.

Yes, I am blessed, for I can begin this process with our little ones. It won't be easy, for all sorts of others will be trying to " feed" them and build them in the way they think our children should live. Therefore, I resolve to spend time with my children and to teach them whenever and wherever I can, so that I will not be ashamed. But above all, that my Father in heaven, will be glorified in them.

God give us the strength and the vision to do this!