Psalm 44:1 For the choir director. A Maskil of the sons of Korah. O God, we have heard with our ears, Our fathers have told us The work that You did in their days, In the days of old. Our fathers have told us. That is one of the most critical roles of a parent or grandparent… to tell our children of the Work God has done in our days, in our life. Hearing stories about God’s great faithfulness, provision, mercy, and love is so powerful. I think of how often I am inspired or encouraged to hear what God’s been doing in the lives of other people. Granted, sometimes I’m a bit envious… but it reminds me that He is working and moving in the world around me, and that’s something I need to be talking about with my children. It’s a challenge, though, because everything I’m learning is giving me s bigger and slightly different understanding of the things I read in the Bible. It’s richer, and probably controversial to some. And these are the things I would tell my children. I want them to dig deeper than the words on the surface, and listen and learn. I want them to understand the richness and significance of what happened in the Garden, about the covenant that God made with Himself (Abraham was asleep, remember?) that was sealed by the blood of Yeshua providing me peace and restoration with God, about the importance of remembering context. I want to pass to them a yearning for more, to never stop looking into the Word of God, to never stop seeking His face and His relationship, and to never be satisfied with where they are but always stepping faithfully in His purpose. That’s what this verse is about – the legacy we leave. It’s not about the money we leave or the worldly education. It’s about reminding my children again and again of the faithfulness of God in my life, because when we look back we remember all that He’s done and I can use that to stand in faith that He is reliable and true, and He will continue to be faithful, no matter what the circumstances look like.
I think about the way I learned about the Bible and the stories I’m learning now, and I wonder how to convey everything I’m learning without totally confusing my littles. For example, the story of Adam and Eve has so much more richness and is so much deeper than the traditional story. There are details like the way God refers to Eve as “Ezer” which has such a rich and full purpose behind it (and it explains an awful lot about women and the way we tend to function). Or how Adam names Eve “Havvah” which means “snake” eternally reminding her of her greatest mistake, and how naming her after “the fall” is a way of demonstrating his “ownership” over her thereby fulfilling the statement that God made that Adam wouldn’t trust Eve anymore and would be over her even though she will always long to fulfill her role as ezer. Even small things like the way God made Adam and then placed him in the garden. Or things like the way God made light and dark before He made the sun and the moon. There’s so much I missed because I was so familiar with the story I didn’t really see the story anymore. Familiarity breeds contempt is the saying, and it’s pretty close to true. I don’t hold contempt for the stories, but I certainly don’t read them as closely as I should… or at least I didn’t. So what stories will I tell my children? I want them to develop a hunger and desire to look deeply into God’s word and to search out the meaning and what the text actually says instead of taking my word or anyone else’s word. And they’re up… so I’m off.