“They Gotta Find Their Own God…”

Isaiah 54:13 (KJV)
13 And all thy children shall be taught of the LORD; and great shall be the peace of thy children.

The Bible is not a “this or that” book. It’s a “this and that” book, meaning that just as a diamond has many different reflections when looked at from different angles, there are many applications and different perspectives that can be found in just one scripture. Isaiah 54:13 demonstrates this well. The promise is that if you teach your children the things of the Lord, great will be their peace (overall well-being). It is an important imperative for all believers concerning the raising of their children.

This scripture also reflects another important truth concerning your children. That is, that the time will come when God wants to become your children’s teacher – “all thy children shall be taught of the Lord…”. Your assignment as “teacher” in this area of your child’s life will one day come to an end, most likely in the late teens through the early twenties. The spiritual conversations that once flowed easily just don’t happen so much anymore. It is almost like a spiritual disconnect has occurred.

But that spiritual disconnect is not necessarily bad. In fact, it may very well be that your child has reached a point in his/her life where God is saying to you, “You’ve done your job, now let Me do Mine.” Most believers have taught their children Jeremiah 29:11 as the cornerstone of their relationship with the Lord. It says (in the Message version), “10-11 …I know what I’m doing. I have it all planned out—plans to take care of you, not abandon you, plans to give you the future you hope for.” Our children reach a point in their lives where God wants them to learn first-hand that He “knows what He is doing” in their lives. For their faith to grow, they “gotta find their own God,” a phrase coined by a well-known minister of the gospel.

Someone once said that when we get to heaven there won’t be any grandchildren, only children, meaning no one will get to heaven based on someone else’s relationship with God. Anyone who is a grandparent knows that as much as having grandchildren adds a dimension to their lives that brings great joy, there is never the level of love and intimacy between grandparents and their grandchildren that exists between child and parent. Our children are literally “flesh of our flesh.” It is no different with God. It just wouldn’t be enough for God to love our children through us.

As hard as it is for us as parents to “let go and let God” become the primary source of our children’s spiritual growth, we have to recognize that the whole process is a part of our journey of faith also. In trusting Him with our children’s spiritual development, He rewards us by giving us what we always wanted – children whose hearts have been touched by God Himself!

1/20