Teach Your Children Well

 

"And you (Can you hear?) of tender years (And do you care?)

Can't know the fears (And can you see?)

That your elders grew by (We must be free)

And so, please help (To teach your children)

Them with your youth (What you believe in)

They seek the truth (Make a world)

Before they can die (That we can live in)"

Lyrics Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young

Proverbs 22:6 Train up a child in the way he should go and when he is older he will not depart from it.

I have quoted this scripture to myself when I desperately needed a reminder and have used it to encourage many parents with prodigal children. However, this week I realized a whole new meaning to the outcome of not training up a child in the way he should go.

We need to go back to the beginning when God tells Moses to have 12 spies search out the promise land and bring back a report. Now remember, the children of Israel have been taken out of Egypt, experienced first hand all the plagues that God personally did, walked through the Red Sea and watched Pharaoh and his army drown, ate heavenly food daily called manna, saw water come from a rock and if all that wasn't enough, personally saw the cloud of God by day and the fire by night to know when and where to go!!!

You can read all this for yourself in Exodus.

Move onto Numbers 13 to see the outcome of the spies who were sent out and the fearful, faithless report they bring back to the children of Israel.  Only Hoshea son on Nun, whom Moses called Joshua and Caleb still believed in the miracles of God, even though they all directly saw the events.

Numbers 14:6 But Joshua the son of Nun and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, who were among those who had spied out the land, tore their clothes; 7 and they spoke to all the congregation of the children of Israel, saying: “The land we passed through to spy out is an exceedingly good land. 8 If the Lord delights in us, then He will bring us into this land and give it to us, ‘a land which flows with milk and honey.’ 9 Only do not rebel against the Lord, nor fear the people of the land, for they are our bread; their protection has departed from them, and the Lord is with us. Do not fear them. ”10 And all the congregation said to stone them with stones. Now the glory of the Lord appeared in the tabernacle of meeting before all the children of Israel.

God's response:

22 because all these men who have seen My glory and the signs which I did in Egypt and in the wilderness, and have put Me to the test now these ten times, and have not heeded My voice, 23 they certainly shall not see the land of which I swore to their fathers, nor shall any of those who rejected Me see it. 24 But My servant Caleb, because he has a different spirit in him and has followed Me fully, I will bring into the land where he went, and his descendants shall inherit it.

29 The carcasses of you who have complained against Me shall fall in this wilderness, all of you who were numbered, according to your entire number, from twenty years old and above.

30 Except for Caleb the son of Jephunneh and Joshua the son of Nun, you shall by no means enter the land which I swore I would make you dwell in. 31 But your little ones, whom you said would be victims, I will bring in, and they shall know the land which you have despised.

To sum it up, God is saying that even though you saw with your own eyes that I AM all powerful and I alone saved you, yet you still don't trust me, you will not enter the land I promised you.

Moving forward God tells His children to have nothing to do with the following people and the reason why.

Exodus 34:10 And He said: “Behold, I make a covenant. Before all your people I will do marvels such as have not been done in all the earth, nor in any nation; and all the people among whom you are shall see the work of the Lord. For it is an awesome thing that I will do with you. 11 Observe what I command you this day. Behold, I am driving out from before you the Amorite and the Canaanite and the Hittite and the Perizzite and the Hivite and the Jebusite. 12 Take heed to yourself, lest you make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land where you are going, lest it be a snare in your midst. 13 But you shall destroy their altars, break their sacred pillars, and cut down their wooden images 14 (for you shall worship no other god, for the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God), 15 lest you make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, and they play the harlot with their gods and make sacrifice to their gods, and one of them invites you and you eat of his sacrifice, 16 and you take of his daughters for your sons, and his daughters play the harlot with their gods and make your sons play the harlot with their gods.

God is teaching His children from the beginning of Exodus to this point what He needs them to learn and know. How their decisions will effect their future and that of future generations. He warns them against marrying people who will turn them into whores for other gods. 

Moses is on the journey with them all the way up to the book of Joshua, teaching the children of Israel the laws of God.  Because of his own disobedience God has forbid him from entering the Promise Land with Joshua, however, Moses passed the mantle of leadership to Joshua.

Deuteronomy 34: Now Joshua the son of Nun was filled with the spirit of wisdom, for Moses had laid his hands on him; and the sons of Israel listened to him and did as the Lord had commanded Moses.

We will pick up now in the book of Joshua as they enter the new land.  God speaking:

Joshua 1:7 Only be strong and very courageous, that you may observe to do according to all the law which Moses My servant commanded you; do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left, that you may prosper wherever you go. 8 This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success. 9 Have I not commanded you? Be strong and of good courage; do not be afraid, nor be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”

Interestingly enough God does another miracle with water for His children as they crossed the Jordan River. Read Joshua Chapter 3 for the details.  After the entire nation finished crossing the Jordan the LORD spoke again telling Joshua to take one man from each tribe, and remove a stone from the middle of the Jordan as a sign.

Joshua 4:6 "Let this be a sign among you, so that when your children ask later, saying, "what do these stones mean?" 

OK where am I going with this you ask? I know I'm taking the long way but I need YOU Gems to know the facts before I make my humble point.

Think about it, every man from 20 years and above died in the wilderness before they crossed over to the promise land right? So other than Moses, Joshua and Caleb I don't think there were many old people with them, Elders if you will. The real issue here is other than Joshua and Caleb at this point in history they are the only two eye witnesses of God's past miracles.

The book of Joshua goes through battles and the giving out of the inheritance of land to each tribe of Israel.  The book ends with Joshua once again recapping all that had happened in the Nations history with God from Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. He goes over the events with Moses and the exodus from Egypt.  After the recap he asks a question of the people, who will you serve as  you enter the land of the Amorites? These were the people inhabiting the land they were entering.  He let's them know as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.

Joshua 24:16 So the people answered and said: “Far be it from us that we should forsake the Lord to serve other gods; 17 for the Lord our God is He who brought us and our fathers up out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage, who did those great signs in our sight, and preserved us in all the way that we went and among all the people through whom we passed. 18 And the Lord drove out from before us all the people, including the Amorites who dwelt in the land. We also will serve the Lord, for He is our God.”  19 But Joshua said to the people, “You cannot serve the Lord, for He is a holy God. He is a jealous God; He will not forgive your transgressions nor your sins. 20 If you forsake the Lord and serve foreign gods, then He will turn and do you harm and consume you, after He has done you good.”  21 And the people said to Joshua, “No, but we will serve the Lord!” 22 So Joshua said to the people, “You are witnesses against yourselves that you have chosen the Lord for yourselves, to serve Him.” And they said, “We are witnesses!” 23 “Now therefore,” he said, “put away the foreign gods which are among you, and incline your heart to the Lord God of Israel.”  24 And the people said to Joshua, “The Lord our God we will serve, and His voice we will obey!”  25 So Joshua made a covenant with the people that day, and made for them a statute and an ordinance in Shechem.  26 Then Joshua wrote these words in the Book of the Law of God. And he took a large stone, and set it up there under the oak that was by the sanctuary of the Lord. 27 And Joshua said to all the people, “Behold, this stone shall be a witness to us, for it has heard all the words of the Lord which He spoke to us. It shall therefore be a witness to you, lest you deny your God.”

First off I find it intriguing he says the stone has heard and will be a witness....

Joshua was the last of the prophets, now enter the era of Judges.

Chapter 1 opens with Israel asking who will fight for them against the Canaanites and the Lord says Judah.  He let's them know He has given the land into his hand and they would win the battle.

However, each following leader in Judges does not drive out the Canaanites like they were commanded by God to do. The chapter begins with God's judgment against the Canaanites and ends with God's judgment against Israel.

When the last generation who saw what God did died the next generation did not follow God's rules. Why?

They didn't know God. 

Joshua 2:7 And the people served the LORD all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders who survived Joshua, who had seen all the great work of the LORD which He had done for Israel.

They served God while Joshua and the elders were alive. Where the people failed was not continuing to teach the children about God and His laws, the blessings in following them and the curses for disobedience. 

We see that by Judges 2:10-11 When all that generation had been gathered to their fathers, another generation arose after them who did not know the Lord nor the work which He had done for Israel. Then the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord, and served the Baals;

They failed their children. This whole generation of Israel didn't just decide not to follow God anymore they didn't have a relationship with Him. They followed the god's of society that were available to them at the time. Baal was a god of fertility in your family, land and harvest. It was an attractive god to them, they were never farmers, they were slaves they "needed" a god of soil for their crops. They would "believe" in God they were just adding other gods to the list. They didn't know the part about “You cannot serve the Lord, for He is a holy God. He is a jealous God; He will not forgive your transgressions nor your sins, If you forsake the Lord and serve foreign gods!

When I was in Haiti leading vacation bible school we did a program at the end for the parents and to my surprise, the local witch doctor came. There he was seated in the front wearing all his garb. I asked a local Haitian about it because I thought the witch doctor forbid believing in God. He told me it was ok for them to believe in "our god" as long as he, the witch doctor was still the main god.

Same concept here in the history of the Israelites.   The story gets pretty gross with all that went on with the children of Israel, not much different than how gross we have become as a people who say we believe in God.

An angel calls them out and let's them know that because of their disobedience God would no longer drive out their enemies from  them, they would become as thorns in their sides and their gods shall be a snare to them. The people wept BUT they did not repent, conviction is not the same as repentance.

Gems back to the beginning of this jewel, teach your children well...  Most people today don't know God, they know about Him. The generations still have not been faithful in sharing the truths of God's love. The blessings and the curses that we choose by being obedient or disobedient. We still don't understand the only way to the Father is through the SON.

I remember years ago I was leading multiple bible studies and decided to join a group at the local church. As soon as I sat down I felt the Holy Spirit say "you keep sharing with friends and strangers but how much do you share with your own children and grandchildren?"  I went home and started testifying to my family about all the miraculous things God did in the past for me and them and how He was still moving in my life. Do I do it all the time? God forgive me the answer is no.

Train up a child in the way he should go so he won't depart from it generations later! Nothing blesses me more than seeing my sons teach their kids about God. When we praise together as a family and I see my grandchildren watching their parents sing to God I about explode with joy. I pray daily that they will marry believers and all my grandchildren after them will know God and be known by HIM!

When we lose sight of God's glory we lose sight of our need for forgiveness. People don't think they need Yeshua (Jesus) when they can just serve the gods of society. 

What gods are we showing our children are important to us? What gods do we turn to in times of need or trouble? Who do we cry out to for help? Do we understand there is a difference between being sorrowful and repentance? 

God definitely disciplines those He loves but honestly Gems most of what happens to us is the consequences of choosing sin over God's commands. This is why we have to know what God's commands are. He sent His son Yeshua so we have the perfect role model. Yeshua said "If you love me keep my commands."

Children love nothing more than hearing you read a story.  My grandsons can tell you the names of most Pokémon and what their super power is. Most men can tell you the name of NFL teams and the quarterbacks stats and most women can give you a play by play of their favorite movie. My point is we learn what's important to us. 

We are so blessed to have an abundance of teaching recourses for children and adults. It's not to late to start teaching or learning!

I have no greater joy than this, to hear that my children are walking in the truth.

3John:4