Bible in 90, Day 13: I believe the children are our future… seriously

Numbers 32-Deuteronomy 7

*image courtesy of jayofboy at www.sxc.hu

So, they finally made it to the Promised Land!  Some of these people were teenagers when they left Egypt, and now they’re in their 60’s and 70’s!  That’s a long time to wait on a promise to be fulfilled!  But God is faithful.  Before they go in, Moses lays down some ground rules: tribal allotments and boundaries, cities of refuge, Levitical towns, and inheritance standards.  This brings us to the end of Numbers.

Deuteronomy begins with a recounting of the last forty years, right up to the defeating of Sihon and Og.  Here, Moses reminds the people of God’s faithfulness, the unfaithfulness of their parents’ generation, and the reason behind the forty years of wandering.  Then begins one of the foundational passages of Judaism.  Chapters 4-6 of Deuteronomy are amazingly important chapters in the Old Testament.  In chapter 4, Moses commands the people to obey God and reminds them of their incredibly unique situation.  They are God’s chosen people and have heard His very voice speaking to them from the fire.  This prepares them to hear once again the Ten Commandments in chapter 5.  In chapter 6, we encounter the Jewish declaration of faith.  It is known as the Shema.  Shema is the first Hebrew word in v. 4 and it translates to “Hear!”  

“⁴ Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one.  ⁵ Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. ⁶ These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. ⁷Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. ⁸ Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. ⁹ Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.”

Here Moses reminds Israel of some foundational, incredibly important truths.  First, there is only one God, and He is the Lord, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.  Second, believers are to love our God with our entire being.  Third, believers are to pass the truths of God onto the next generation by making them a part of daily life.

I had a Jewish girlfriend once in high school.  On the door frame of every door in her family’s house was a little box.  I asked about them, and discovered that the little box is called a mezuzah.  It contains a small scroll which has several Old Testament verses written on it in Hebrew.  One of the verses is this very passage.  It is a literal handling of the command to “write them on the door frames of your houses.”  It serves as a notice to anyone entering that the house is inhabited by Jews.  It also serves as a constant reminder of this foundational passage of the Old Testament.

The mezuzah is a tangible way of fulfilling the command to make the Law a part of everyday life.  Believers are instructed to memorize the commands, and to impress them on their children by talking about them throughout the day.  It is a sacred privilege, and a holy duty to teach our children the ways of God.  This is especially important to the fathers.  We have the primary duty of pastoring our families and teaching our children.  We are to constantly be saturating our kids with the Word of God.  As soon as they can understand us (which comes long before they can talk themselves!), we should be teaching them the Bible.  The name of Jesus should constantly be on our lips, and only (as the third commandment just reminded us) in a reverent way.

This can mean simple, spontaneous things like noting the Creator of the flower when your daughter calls your attention to its beauty.  It can mean more intentional things like asking your son if he thinks you love him even when he’s in time out, and pointing out God’s love which covers our sin.  Or it can be planned out things like reading the Bible with your children and praying with them at bedtime.

In order for any of this to work, we parents have to be on our toes spiritually.  We have to be constantly looking for those opportunities to point our kids to Jesus.  More importantly, we have to be in the Word and prayer ourselves so that they are a part of our daily lives.  When you do this, you will be amazed at how much you don’t have to look for opportunities because they are right in front of you and you see them clearly because you are walking by the Spirit.