Our Children Will Go Where We Will Not

“I will die in this land;
but you are about to cross over and
take possession of that good land.”
Deuteronomy 4:22

            As Moses was speaking to the people—preparing them to leave the wilderness and move to the land God had promised – he was also saying goodbye.  In many ways, they were his “children” – he had led them, taught them, and listened to them whine for many years! Yet his love for them, like every parent’s love for a child, remained unconditional.

Like we, as parents, he was sending them on to places he would not go – to interact with people he would never meet.  Those child-rearing years are exhausting – physically, mentally, emotionally, and even spiritually.  They stretch us and try us and we realize God uses our children to teach us much of His love and patience with us.  The time seems unending and the days long…until quite suddenly, the years have gone by quickly and, like me, you may find your season of parenting with them living under your roof is almost over.

Coming with the-days-go-by-slow-but-the-years-go-by-fast realization (as the old adage goes), is an urgency for godly parents to prepare our children to go on ahead – to hit the mark and be effective when they do.  Our children will interact with people we will never meet.  They will go places we will never go.  Are they prepared?  Can they defend their faith?  Are they equipped to share the gospel?  Do they love the Word?  We make sure they can run the washing machine, change a tire (if your husband’s an engineer!), and balance a checkbook…but are they equipped to say “NO” to themselves (my litmus test for maturity), to run to Jesus first, and to articulate what they believe and why?

Lord Jesus, let me pour eternal truth, as well as daily life skills into my children.  Holy Spirit, fill and equip each of them as they interact with people I will never meet and go places I will never go.  Let them be powerful and effective for your Kingdom, O God!