I started teaching them God's Word every day many years ago. I remember
feeling very inadequate at it, for I had just begun to read it myself.
But over and over again I could hear the Living Words in my ear:
"You shall teach them to your sons, talking of them when you sit in your
house and when you walk along the road and when you lie down and when you
rise up."
Deuteronomy 11:19
"My son, do not forsake the teaching of your mother." Proverbs 6:20b
I found that when I faithfully taught them while sitting in my house,
then they were more inclined to ask questions concerning The Word while
we walked along the road and when we lay down, thus enabling me to speak
more with them about their Heavenly Father throughout our day. Upon
rising I play beautiful music which carries His Word on wings of praise
down the hall to their bedrooms. Such a peaceful way to wake up.
Inevitably when we sat down to read and study God's Word together, there
would be some interruption: the phone would ring, the dogs would start
barking, or someone would be at the door. I remember getting so
frustrated one day and decided then and there that this must be a very
important work, for someone (and we all know who) was trying to disrupt
this important time of study. I got more determined. I shut the phone
off. I started off in prayer with my children that the LORD would teach
us and keep us focused. Many times my children would ask for no
interruptions. Guess what? No interruptions. If we did get one, we
settled it and went right back to studying.
Over the years of studying God's Word with my children, I am not sure who
has learned more: them or me. Over and over I would glean something new
that I had just not seen before. It was amazing. And exciting.
Take today, for instance. We were in Numbers. We were observing the
children of Israel grumbling for the tenth time against the LORD. This
time even considering stoning Moses and Aaron. (Numbers 14) As I was
teaching my children this passage, I said to them, "Grumbling causes
stumbling. Soon you will see that all this grumbling is going to cause a
major stumbling for the children of Israel, as they will not go into the
Promised Land for forty more years.
I talked to my children about the futility of grumbling. I spoke to them
about grumbling against their parents or those in authority over them,
just as the children of Israel grumbled against Moses; their grumble was
really against God Who had put them under this authority. I talked to
them about grumbling about their chores or their school work. Just like
the Israelites grumbled about their desert life, even though they lacked
for nothing. Again, if they grumbled, it would inevitably cause
stumbling in their life for they would be punished - just as the Children
of Israel were by their Heavenly Father.
When we were done our study I was still thinking about that passage. That
is how the Word of God works. ~Smile~ You keep "feeding" long after the
"reading." And I was thinking how patient God was with the children of
Israel. He allowed them to grumble 10 times before turning them back from
the Promised Land for forty years. Why was their grumbling so
heartwrenching to Him? Because to those whom He has given much, much is
required. And the children of Israel had been given a lot. Their eyes had
seen the Hand of God in incredible new ways.
"How long shall I bear with this evil congregation who are grumbling
against Me? I have heard the complaints of the sons of Israel, which they
are making against Me." Numbers 14:27
Listen to some of those complaints against The Hand that had caused great
calamity against their Egyptian Masters, while covering them in great
compassion by parting the Red Sea like a long, dry hallway for them to
safely walk across; feeding them with the bread of the angels; walking
before them in cloud of fire by night; and giving them water from a rock,
just to name a few. Yet they grumbled and complained:
"Would that we had died in the land of Egypt! Or would that we had died
in this wilderness! And why is the LORD bringing us into this land, to
fall by the sword? Our wives and our little ones will become plunder,
would it not be better for us to return to Egypt? So they said to one
another, 'Let us appoint a leader and return to Egypt.'" Numbers 14:2-4
I thought to myself, how could they do that after all the LORD did for
them? Then it hit me. I, too, had done the same thing in my life! Oh, how
the LORD had worked in my life. I had seen His Hand in healing my
parent's marriage; in bringing me to know Him during my pain as a young
child; in leading me in compassion to marry my Art; in the miraculous
healing of my three week old son on death's doorstep; and in so many,
many other ways too numerous to mention, but not too insignificant to
forget. I had seen His Hand! Yet, I had also grumbled afterwards when
things had not gone my way.
I remembered when I grumbled regularly about my husband. Why couldn't God
change him the way I wanted him to be? A little faster. ~Smile~ I
remembered when I regularly grumbled about my children. Why couldn't they
act the way I wanted them to? Or my health. Why did I have to get sick
just now? Why did we have this financial burden just now? Was I so
different from the children of Israel? I am afraid not. His Hand had been
leading me all along, but when things did not go my way, I, too, grumbled
about my leadership and the way my life was going. I know it was
grumbling, for I did not react in faith with my hand gripped in my
Father's Hand while looking up to Him for direction. My eyes were down
here on my insurmountable problem which prompted me to react in fear.
Fear wants to go back, rather than forward. Just like the Children of
Israel wanted to return to Egypt, rather than trust their God to "pull
down the mountains" in front of them. Was I stumbling like them? You bet.
But God, my Father, Who never changes and Who is compassionate beyond
measure drew me round to look up at Him. Oh, He used pain in my life,
much like we would grab our child's arm firmly and cause them to look up
at us and pay close attention. I paid close attention to what He said,
because He caught me in a grip of pain. And I humbled myself under His
Mighty Hand.
Where grumbling causes stumbling, major humbling moves the Heart of God
in great compassion. Take a look at Moses and Aaron:
"Then Moses and Aaron fell on their faces in the presence of all the
assembly of the congregation of the sons of Israel." Numbers 14:5
Fell on their faces. They didn't care what everyone thought, they humbled
themselves under God's Mighty Hand, and pleaded for those that were the
very ones who wanted to stone them. I thought about that. I thought about
what God said concerning Moses, "the most humble man on the face of the
earth." God listens to the humble heart. God reveals Himself to the
humble heart. The humble heart cries out for God's mercy, in spite of
their inner pain given to them by the very ones they are trying their
best to help. Just as Jesus did from the cross when He prayed, "Father,
forgive them, for they know not what they do." Oh, how I wanted to know
Him and to love Him, and to have that kind of love flowing through me. I
realized it is only possible through a meek and gentle spirit (a.k.a.
humble), which is so precious in His sight. No wonder it is so precious
in His sight; He can love so much through such a woman devoted to Him.
God speaks to Moses:
'I have pardoned them according to your word; but indeed as I live, all
the earth will be filled with the glory of the LORD."
God hears the humble heart, and forgives, forgives, forgives. I find that
over and over in the Word of God. I remember so well my first morning of
humbling. I had been a Christian for many, many years, but I knew
something was dreadfully wrong. I bowed before the LORD in humility and
asked Him to help me know Him as He truly was, and not as I perceived Him
to be. I asked Him to help me love Him with all my heart, soul, mind, and
strength. I asked Him to help me be the wife and mother and homemaker
that He wanted me to be. I humbled myself every morning under His Mighty
Hand, to this day.
Slowly, so slowly He began to do His work in me. Oh, at first I didn't
see anything significant. (Much like we don't realize our children have
grown until someone mentions it.) Then I realized that spending time with
Him each day was changing me more than I realized. For one thing, the
grumbling was turning into thanksgiving. The stumbling was turning into
clinging to My Father's Hand. And the humbling was ever continuing with
my reputation flat at the foot of the cross.
What happened with my relationship with God? It is a sweet intimacy that
gets sweeter every day. It is a clinging to Him that I might not grumble
and stumble, for I do not trust myself apart from my Father's Hand.
What happened to my family? Well, I decided to enjoy my marriage as God
intended. I stopped focusing on my husband's weaknesses and started
focusing on his many strengths. Guess who got stronger? ~Smile~ I also
decided I would become a Jewish Mama. What is that you ask? Well, a
Jewish Mama is her children's best cheerleader. Where I use to complain
about my children, I now built them up with my words, speaking of their
strengths rather than their weaknesses. Guess who got stronger?
What happened to my home? I stopped grumbling that I could never do this
or do that because of my lack in this or my lack in that. Instead I
decided to take God at His Word and believe that He could do through me
the impossible: Proverbs 31. Guess what got stronger?
Grumbling causes stumbling, without a doubt. Humbling moves the Heart of
God. May His Heart be moved by our hearts devoted to Him to the glory and
praise of His Name!
Love,
Laine
"I love you, LORD, my strength." Psalm 18:1