SSMT - Verse 16

Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi

Sometime ago, I found myself reading in Jeremiah, and came across a passage in chapter 14 in which God tells Jeremiah not to pray for the well-being of the people of Judah, for God was going to send judgment on them.  Jeremiah protested, saying in effect, 'But God, all the TV preachers and the preachers who write columns in the paper...our religious leaders...are all telling the people not to be afraid, that destruction isn't coming to them.'

God told Jeremiah that it didn't matter what all the church leaders were saying...because He did not speak to them at all; they were lying.  Furthermore, those folks who were telling the people not to fear destruction were going to fall victim to the very things they were denying.

As I read that passage, I'll confess I identified a bit with Jeremiah, wondering how fair it was, really, for God to punish the people when they had been deceived by the very ones who had the responsibility to tell them the truth.

And I felt God's response, 'They had My word themselves and neglected to keep it.  Had they kept it, they would have known the difference between a true proclamation and a false one.'

And He sent me to Deuteronomy, chapter 6, verses 6 and 7 (NIV 84):

These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts.  Impress them upon your children.  Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.  

Back in the day, I was a youth leader in a small denominational church.  And I remember several families who did not strongly encourage their kids to follow after God, telling me that the kids 'needed to make up their own minds' or some such thing.

I don't know where those families are today, and I wonder what happened to those kids.  Did they grow up to follow God?   If a prominent and respected church leader or, say, a TV celebrity, spoke something that was purported to be the word of God...and wasn't...would those folks who were raised in that way even know?

Is that not what has happened in our society?

It seems to me that the plain instruction of Deuteronomy 6 is that we should do everything in our power to pass our faith along to our kids, even if it means wearying them of it at times.

Because a generation that does not know the word of God will believe either anything or nothing.