I have been eager since earlier this morning to share my YOU VERSION devotion with you today. Contained in the devotion is information that I do not recall having previously received. It is good!
CREATING A TASTE FOR GOD
Perhaps the key passage in Scripture to understanding the parent’s proper attitude toward children is Proverbs 22:6. However, we often misunderstand that verse because we do not really know what the verb ‘train’ means.
To the modern mind, the verb ‘train’ smacks of discipline. We can almost see the hard-boiled sergeant dressing down the new recruit, a strict teacher telling his student what to do, or a demanding father insisting a son do something right. However, in the original Hebrew that is not at all what ‘train’ meant. In that ancient tongue, “train” denoted the action of the midwife when she would dip her finger in the oil and rub the tiny palate of the newborn baby, causing that baby to have a desire to suck. Thus, what that verse really means is, “Create a taste for God in the heart of your child, and when he is old nothing else in life will satisfy his hunger.”
What a difference a correct understanding of this simple verse makes. As godly parents, we are not always to “straighten out our children.” Rather, we are to love them deeply and provide a climate of love and security that is a result of our relationship with God. The child raised in such an atmosphere is a lot closer to Calvary than one raised in a hostile or cold setting.
via Draw Near – 365 Guides to Greater Intimacy with God | YouVersion.com.
Did you see it?
What a revealing definition of train. It makes so much sense to me! Train up a child so they have a hunger for GOD and that child will not have departed from the LORD even when he is old. It’s a bit late for me as my childbearing years are over :) but perhaps I can still be TRAINED and some young ones will yet benefit. :) I hope you will pass this along to some young mothers. How glorious it would be to have a generation of children so trained.
Proverbs 22:6 Complete Jewish Bible (CJB)
6 Train a child in the way he [should] go; and, even when old, he will not swerve from it.
via Proverbs 22:6 CJB – Train a child in the way he [should] – Bible Gateway.
Blessings of Joy and Peace, Kathie
