September 3, 2014
The God of Promise
“But Jesus said, “Let the children come to me. Don’t stop them! For the Kingdom of Heaven belongs to those who are like these children.” Matthew 19:14 (NLT)
What a busy exciting time of year as children and their parents prepare for the Back-to School season. Haircuts…school supplies…new clothes…new schedules…new teachers…parents bid farewell to the swimming pools as they welcome the car-pools…Certainly a wonderful time of new beginnings…new adventure…new knowledge…new friends…new growth and new hope! The ‘firsts’ for children undoubtedly create those fluttering butterflies of uncertainty in the pits of little tummies, not to mention the anxious pounding of the momma-hearts at the thought of their pre-schooler, their first grader, their new middle-schooler, their H.S. freshman, their H.S. senior…taking their first steps, into their new territory which will serve as their training ground as they prepare for their next step in life…for their journey.
Experienced moms have learned to secure the sun-glasses which hide the tear-filled eyes, understanding that there is absolutely no reason to waste time with make-up…(it would not stay on), to replenish the Kleenex in their vehicles, and to plan nothing immediately following the drop-off, so that the other unsuspecting moms can gather in the parking lot to huddle together, looking for any and every excuse to remain on the school grounds as if that would slow down the hands of time as the aggressive hands push the moments around the clock more quickly each year…or, so it seems at this moment in time… Back-to-School!
I have loved seeing the posts of proud moms as they share the photos of their precious ones on their first day of school, yes, from pre-school to the cute college freshmen moving into their new residence…Students looking wild-eyed with excitement and anticipation…and the weary parents looking wild-eyed from the uncertain new territory for their child…and from their own exhaustion of moving into the college residence…many times up and down gazillion flights of stairs…Oh yes, Back-to School!
And I remember these moments…all of these moments…and we now, have celebrated the tremendous joy on our grand-daughter’s face as she prepared for her four-year-old pre-school experience. And the second grand-daughter’s face as she prepares for her one day a week pre-school experience…even though she does not know exactly what it all means…other than she is just one step closer in her little mind to doing what her big sister does…I love it!
Back-to-School
God is the God of Promise!
Yes, I remember each one of these moments…And I am certain that motherhood is not for the faint-hearted. I am certain that many of these firsts bring us to anxious thoughts, to the quivering knees, to the quivering lips and the quivering hearts…Motherhood brings us to the points of desperation, even when we know that we are giving our precious ones roots…and then letting the tiny wings sprout ever so gradually…Motherhood is not for the faint-hearted….and we find that as our hearts grow faint (it happens to each one of us), motherhood brings us to our knees…before the throne of The God of Promise!
God is the God of Promise!
“But Jesus said, “Let the children come to me. Don’t stop them! For the Kingdom of Heaven belongs to those who are like these children.” Matthew 19:14 (NLT)
And that God of Promise holds our children…He calls them, He draws them to His tender heart…and I pray that mothers and fathers everywhere, in every nation know this Great and Mighty God…and trust His Security for their children, and for their own lives…
There is a threat which is diminishing the contrast of these days in our own nation and the days in the world…Similarities are lurking… Motherhood is not for the faint-hearted….and we find that as our hearts grow faint (it happens to each one of us), motherhood brings us to our knees…before the throne of The God of Promise!
Momma-Hearts
This past Monday, thousands of Israeli children left the protection of the bomb shelters which had been their second home during the fifty day Israel-Hamas War. The cease fire of last Tuesday brings with it new hope and new promise that the lives of these children will return to the norm, the routine, the safety and the security which every child needs and craves. And these mothers and fathers release the little hands of their children, allowing them to go and to learn, to live… Motherhood is not for the faint-hearted.
Sadly, as these thousands of Israeli children return to school, the Gaza schools remain closed because of devastation generated by an enemy who is violently hostile toward God and His best for the innocent people of Gaza…for the Jews…for the Gentiles…and these children are not returning to school…not now. The devastation is too great. (And we know that we battle, not flesh and blood, but the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places…) Ephesians 6:12.
Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited a school in a Gaza border town that had been hit aggressively by enemy fire. He encouraged the children to study hard and said to them, “We will make sure to provide you with knowledge and provide you with security.” (abcnews.go.com)
And the children return to school with excitement…with anxious thoughts…with trusting hearts….
Seconds in the Sixties…
‘Duck and Cover’…It is really interesting, once again, I share, what the child’s mind remembers. During the Cuban Missile Crisis in the ‘60’s, I was attending an elementary school in Corpus Christi, Texas, Carroll Lane elementary, after completing my first grade year at the Jewish School, Temple Bethel. I vividly remember the Air Raid Drills in our school and the ‘Duck and Cover’ lessons. The siren would sound and we were trained to rush into our building if we were outside and take our positions under desks or inside hallways, covering our heads with our hands, faces down to prevent potential injury…I think that I assumed that everyone did this. What I did not understand was that the Naval Air Station and several radar tracking stations throughout Corpus Christi, were major targets during this show-down, and the children in the schools were incredibly vulnerable.
I clearly remember when the ‘scanning of the skies for aircraft’ became exciting games during recess, yet, sensing some of the seriousness of the threat… and, yet, in our naïve minds we could not conceive and perceive the very real and imminent threat which hovered over our nation at the time, over our city, over our school…it hovered…
And now, hovers over the children of Israel, of Gaza, of Iran, of Iraq, of Syria, of the African countries…because of an enemy…the spiritual forces of evil in the heavens… Ephesians 6:12
God is the God of Promise!
Times are no different. We as mothers and fathers, are called and are compelled to pray…No matter what the political or demographic name is of the enemy, it is the same evil heart which pursues life, light, and goodness. We are compelled and driven to fall to our knees before the throne of the One True God…the God Almighty, the God of Promise…and that is where we should go…where we must go…and there is no better place to be!
He is the God who adores His children…every age child…He is the One who hears the cries of His children…and He is the One who is Promise and who answers the cries of His precious ones, the cries of you and the cries of your children.
It is true that humankind fails itself…always has…always will. But even in the devastation of the Israel-Hamas War, in the devastation of the Holocaust in World War II, in the personal despair within a family when there is betrayal, and today, in the betrayal of security in our homeland within the walls of the schools…Our Almighty God is bigger…He is Sovereign…He Redeems…He Restores…He is the Hope Giver…He is the Author and the Source of Eternity and He makes a firm and anchored and secure claim to His children…to your children. May we pray for mothers and fathers in every nation to come to know this Great and Almighty God. May they come to His Knowledge and to His Security!
“Beware that you don’t look down on any of these little ones. For I tell you that in heaven their angels are always in the presence of my heavenly Father.” Matthew 18:10 (NLT)
Yes, our Lord came to this earth for our children…but He came for each of the mothers and the fathers. He came for the Israelis…for the Palestinians…for our neighbors…for our family members…for your children.
May we be people of earnest and sincere prayer as we call upon His Holy name…Yeshua Christ…May we pray for every child in this world…that they would be able to experience the life which our Loving God has designed and planned for them…May we pray for their protection; May we pray that the evil in this world would be bound and defeated by the Living Word of the Great and Almighty God…the God of Promise! And my dear friends, it is written…it is done!
“I have hidden your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you.” Psalm 119:11 (NLT)
May we be mothers and fathers who teach our children the Word of God and of His promises and of His power…His Power which secures and anchors and protects and directs…In the midst of the busy days of school…may we remember to take the Holy Word of Truth and hide it in our own hearts. May we teach our children to take the Living Word of God and hide it in their hearts…This is our security! This is their security through Yeshua Christ! There is no greater way to live than in His Knowledge…and in His Security.
The God of Promise
Last Friday, my daughter-in-love, Claire, sent this beautiful picture of the rainbow which they witnessed as she drove our four-year-old grand-daughter to pre-school. And because I know my beautiful daughter-in-love, I know that she shared the greatest message of the love of their Heavenly Father as they drove the blocks to school. Her text read. “Look what we saw on the way to school! God’s Promise!”
I pray for each of you that you walk in the Truth of His Promise! That you take God’s Word…that you know it…that you sing about it…that you dance it…that you live it…and that you teach your children…
Psalm 91
Abundant Promise and Joy,
#truth #knowitsingitdanceitliveit
