When the Lord Himself Speaks to Our Children

And behold, the Lord stood… and said, “I am the Lord, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac; the land on which you lie, I will give it to you and to your descendants.”

Genesis 28:13

Take heart, dear parent. The Lord Himself will speak to your children.

Jacob deceived Isaac and Esau rebelled against him. Yet Isaac remained sure of the Lord, spoke a blessing over Jacob, and sent him into adulthood.

The blessing of our children is critical at the launching point where we send our children out into adulthood. Though they may or may not embrace the truth they have been taught, though they may or may not be following Jesus as they exit our homes, they need to know that all we’ve taught them, the Word we’ve stood on, the stability of the Lord of our family, has not and will not change. The Lord is our Rock, and that does not shift with the storms of growing pains. He remains steadfast, and so must we.

Isaac knew this, and he spoke blessing to Jacob, charging him with one last word of parental wisdom as he sent him away. Whether or not Jacob would heed Isaac’s words was up to Jacob.

Then Jacob left his father and mother’s home and made his way to the next chapter of his life.

On the way, between the end of childhood and the beginning of adulthood, Jacob lay down to sleep, placing a stone under his head. There he had a dream.

The Lord Himself came to Jacob, and behold, He spoke the words of Isaac’s blessing.

Take heart, dear Isaac. The Lord Himself will affirm the words of Truth you’ve spoken to your children. #parenting #faith Click To Tweet

But He will do it personally, privately, between Him and your child. Between the Lord and His child. 

It is at this vital juncture that a child of mine genuinely becomes a disciple of God. And this is as it should be. We are raising our young arrows to go out into the world and walk with God through it. We are giving them all we can of Truth and Love, then standing on our front porch craning our necks forward to get even a small glimpse of how they do on their own. Will they choose Him and keep choosing Him? We watch, and we pray, and we wait as we see their little light grow smaller as they walk further away from home and into the future of the rest of their lives.

In the night watches, another Light joins theirs in the distance. Their light is suddenly brighter. They are not alone. The Lord is with them.

Trust Him, dear parent. He will speak to your children. And one day they will realize, as in Jacob’s words much later when he looked back on his transition to adulthood, the God of my father has been with me (Genesis 31:5).

@audreycfrank

Photo by JOHN TOWNER on Unsplash