children grow, watching that which comes into the home — friends, literature, TV programs, outside influences — everything which can shape or mar human character. This is his responsibility, not the mother’s. It is at this point where there is a lack in many homes. Either the watching is left to the mother, or the job is quietly avoided. To follow the stand ards set by non-Christian homes in the community is to ask for future trouble. The easiest way at the time is to do nothing about it—to send the watch man off duty and hope for the best. But this is where verse 2 comes in. “ It is vain [absolutely use less] for you to rise up early, to sit up late, to eat the bread of sorrows.” Neglect of training and guarding and watching while the children are young will reap a harvest of trouble when they are teenagers. The watchman’s job is to call out the power to protect. When the father recognizes the need and the danger, he should come, with the mother, in earnest prayer to God, seeking wisdom as to what action should be taken, committing the problem to the Lord and taking that necessary action. One sure way of keeping watch is to be constant and regular with the family altar. Let the children take part in the prayers and reading. If they are tiny, the time spent in devotions will be short but to the point, and always practical. Growing children can join in more and more. Part of the devotion time will be, at times, training in recognizing “ the enemy.” In this way the watchman will have his people ready to respond to any danger that he may recognize. It should be a warning and an encouragement to every father to read Ezekiel 33:1-7. Here are de tailed the duties and responsibilities of the watch man, especially in verse 6: “But if the watchman see the sword come, and blow not the trumpet, and the people be not warned; if the sword come, and take any person from among them, he is taken in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at the watchman’s hands.” What searching words these are, especially when we put them alongside the words we found in I Co rinthians 3:13, “ Every man’s work shall be mani fest . . . of what sort it is.” Every father has to answer to God for the way he has watched and guided his children. This is one of the great responsibilities of parenthood. But I can think of some Christian fathers who are doing exactly nothing to watch and guard their children. We need to remember that the example we set be fore our children is going to be a subject for discus sion when we appear before Christ at His judgment seat. We have thought of building a home and of keep ing a home. The final section o f Psalm 127 concerns using a home. The sequence of thought here is in
teresting — God keeps that which He builds, and uses that which He keeps. Verse 3 tells us that “ children are an heritage of the Lord.” This thought needs careful consideration and follows directly from our previous thoughts about the duties and responsibilities of the watch man. Our children are not temporary guests in our home, for whom we care but for whom we have no real lasting consideration. They are an inherit ance from the Lord. God has an infinite interest in our children. They were His before they became ours. It is our duty and responsibility to invest time and energy in them—not to exploit them as “ live” toys provided for our pleasure. As we have seen, as parents we will have to answer some day for the results of our parenthood, and the outcome of our training. Verse 4 has a lovely thought for the truly Chris tian home: “As arrows are in the hand of a mighty man; so are children of the youth.” Children are as arrows, not as a sword. The idea here is that the arrow can go where the mighty man cannot reach. This is true of many a Christian home. I remember recently being in the home of a fine Christian couple. They showed me the pictures of their five children. All were now grown up. Three were medical doctors, one was a minister and one was a nurse. Three of the children were overseas on the mission field. What a lovely family—five arrows that had been sent forth out of that home. They had all gone where the parents could not reach! God had built that home, God had kept that home, and now He was using it. But all this did not hap pen by chance. Over the years there had been much “blood, toil, sweat and tears” — but in the hands o f God. Verse 5 ends with a happy expression: “ they shall not be ashamed, but they shall speak with the enemies in the gate.” The original text does not spe cify who the “ they” are. It could be either the par ents or the children, or both. The parents won’t be ashamed o f the children, and the children won’t be ashamed of the parents—if God has built and kept and used the home. As a final result “ they shall speak with [or subdue and destroy] the enemies in the gate.” There will be victory for Christ, honor and glory for Christ. It will come because o f two laborers who kept on working, because of two par ents who were mindful of their responsibility, and who invested time and love and patience in their children. This is God’s picture and pattern for the normal Christian home. Inasmuch as we choose to follow another pattern, then in that much we limit God in our own home. But following God’s pattern will be rewarding, satisfying, and productive o f untold blessing in the days to come. g g Reprinted from L imiting G od by Dr. John E. Hunter , published by Zondervan Publishing House , copyright 1966.
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THE KING'S BUSINESS
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