Like arrows in the hand of a warrior
are the children of one's youth. -Psalm 127:4

In the last post, we looked at the imagery of arrows--how children need to be shaped and sharpened just like raw pieces of wood. In this post, I want us to think about why Solomon might have used "warrior" imagery to describe parents. The two go hand-in-hand.

From the beginning, God intended for parents to train their children and send them out into the world to subdue it and to honor Him. In Genesis 1:28, God told Adam and Eve, "Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth." Adam and Eve could never have filled the earth or had their descendants have dominion over the earth if they did not intentionally raise their children to be sent out as responsible men and women.

Soon after this command came the Fall of mankind. The world became a hostile, broken, hurtful place. People from then on were sinful and self-seeking. And this has not changed. So how has this impacted parents? At times, we are tempted to shelter our children (because we fear what might happen out there in the world). Our fears might be somewhat legitimate, but we are forgetting that God calls still calls us to send our children out as husbands, fathers, wives, and mothers of their own. So we must remind ourselves from the very beginning of our children's lives that they are to go out into the world.

And this world is hostile to God. The world, in some sense, is ruled by Satan. It is dark and rebellious. And we were once under his rule. But God in His grace has sent a Savior, Jesus Christ. He suffered on the cross in the place of us sinners and offers forgiveness and new life to those who repent and trust in Him. He has started a new kingdom! And if we are His followers, we are part of that kingdom....Meaning, that we have a great enemy in this world whose kingdom is strong. This is why the New Testament writers speak often about spiritual warfare and the battle we are engaged in.

Solomon's comparison of parents to warriors fits this reality. If we want to be used by God to fight against the powers of darkness, our children are a powerful "weapon." If children are taught to love and honor Christ and they are sharpened and straightened into God-fearing responsible adults, their combined influence in the spiritual warfare that is taking place will far exceed what we are capable of on our own. They will further what God has begun in us. They will take the gospel to their own families and to those they come in contact with at work and in their community.

So let's remember today that we are warriors in the great spiritual war that is going on--the one that Jesus ultimately emerges victorious in. And one of our most strategic and precious weapons against the enemy is our children who love our Savior.

Like arrows in the hand of a warrior
are the children of one's youth. -Psalm 127:4

This verse calls for a few posts. :-)

At the beginning of the verse, Solomon simply says that children are "like arrows." Many have pointed out that arrows don't simply grow on trees. Warriors have to take twigs--or branches more likely--and diligently work to straighten, whittle, and sharpen pieces of wood they find. It's no accident that Solomon compares children to arrows.

When children arrive in our world, when they are graciously given to parents through birth or adoption, they are like raw gnarly pieces of wood. They have spiritual bends, weak spots, and knots. They are deeply flawed. And if left to themselves, they would be of little use to God's kingdom. They wouldn't even attach to a bow, let alone fly straight or far, or penetrate into any evil strongholds. They need to be worked on and undergo deep-seated change.

So as parents, we have a responsibility to do what we can to make our children useful for God's kingdom. (We must acknowledge of course that ultimately God is the one who will change our children and make them useful for His purposes.) We should whittle away sinful behavior through discipline and correction. We should sharpen them by equipping them with knowledge of God's Word. We should help make them strong internally in character and integrity by setting high expectations. We should make sure they "fly straight" by helping them develop a biblical worldview that helps them make godly decisions.

So let's take these crooked branches God gives us and do our part to turn them into straight and strong arrows that someday we can launch into the world on their own--to fly into the heart of our great enemy's kingdom.

Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord,
the fruit of the womb a reward. -Psalm 127:3

Children are a heritage FROM THE LORD. How quickly as parents we are tempted to view children as ours rather than God's. When children are first born or adopted, we feel such a bond and connection with them; and we realize that we have been blessed by God--but this often does not last...When our son was born, I was in awe of how God had brought his life about. How he had transformed a single fertilized egg of one cell (having chosen long ago what DNA would come together in this incredible little person) into a baby who could scream, cry, breathe, eat, sleep, and grasp our fingers with his little hands. Life is a miracle; children are a gift. And that is without question even to the hardest of hearts. But do we really let this sink into our hearts as moms and dads?

Our son is still very young, and even still, I have felt my awe at God's power and presence in my son's life slowly grow cold. As we've gotten into the routine of diaper changing, bottle feeding, burping, playing, and nap-taking, it's easy to start to see him as ours--not God's. When he was in the womb, God was the sole party responsible for his development. But now it's Stephanie and I's responsibility--or so I'm tempted to think. I'm sure this gets harder as children get older. We think it is all up to us, that we are in charge, and we grow to be possessive of them.

But how would our parenting change if we were to remember constantly that our children are "a heritage FROM THE LORD"--that they are "a reward" from Him? What if we were just as aware of that with our teenagers as we were the day they were born? I think we would strive to have them honor God more than they honor us. His rules more than our rules. His desires more than our desires. We would take greater responsibility for their spiritual health and remember that our responsibility is to teach them to love their Creator more than it is to turn them into responsible American citizens. We would probably be less controlling and possessive of them.

The real test might come someday when our child decides to become a missionary and go to a far away land to share the gospel. Will we demand that as our child they stay close to home where they are "safe?" Or will we proudly support them as they honor their heavenly Father abroad?

What about when they get sick and suffer and possibly even die before we do? Will we shake our fist at God and demand that He answer us why He took our child? Or will we in time remember that our children are His first and foremost and that He loves them even more than we do, even when He lets them--and us--hurt?

Stephanie and I, each night before we tuck our son into bed, have developed a practice of saying, "Mommy and daddy love you very much, but we want you to know that Jesus loves you WAY more than we do." We want him from a very young age to know that ultimately he is God's more than he is ours.

So parents, today remember that your children are a gift "from the Lord." You have a responsibility to care for them and lead them, but they are God's more than they are yours.