Psalms and children
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Children and the Psalms
Children and the Psalms
How does the prayer book of Israel view children?
But even more than that, how does Christ view children?
The Psalms are the prayers of Christ and in the prayers we find him.
What is the attitude towards children found within?
What are the promises made to children?
To parents?
If the Psalms serve to equip the church for it’s mission,
than we can ask, “How do children play into God’s mission?”
Christ’s attitude towards children
Christ’s attitude towards children
I) Welcoming.
13 Then children were brought to Him so He might put His hands on them and pray. But the disciples rebuked them. 14 Then Jesus said, “Leave the children alone, and don’t try to keep them from coming to Me, because the kingdom of heaven is made up of people like this.”
II) Points to their faith as a model.
1 At that time the disciples came to Jesus and said, “Who is greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” 2 Then He called a child to Him and had him stand among them. 3 “I assure you,” He said, “unless you are converted and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. 4 Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this child—this one is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. 5 And whoever welcomes one child like this in My name welcomes Me.
III) Uplifting.
6 “But whoever causes the downfall of one of these little ones who believe in Me—it would be better for him if a heavy millstone were hung around his neck and he were drowned in the depths of the sea! 7 Woe to the world because of offenses. For offenses must come, but woe to that man by whom the offense comes.
Children are to be protected.
IV) Jesus is interested in the lives of children and their healing.
23 When Jesus came to the leader’s house, He saw the flute players and a crowd lamenting loudly. 24 “Leave,” He said, “because the girl isn’t dead, but sleeping.” And they started laughing at Him. 25 But when the crowd had been put outside, He went in and took her by the hand, and the girl got up. 26 And this news spread throughout that whole area.
Jesus posture towards children is formed by the Psalms.
Christ’s Spirit is the author and inspiration of the Psalms,
and it follows that Jesus, who is fully man and fully God,
was deeply formed by these prayers.
Informing every aspect of his life,
not least how he interacts with children.
The Psalms on Children:
A Solomonic song of ascents. 1 Unless the Lord builds a house, its builders labor over it in vain; unless the Lord watches over a city, the watchman stays alert in vain. 2 In vain you get up early and stay up late, working hard to have enough food— yes, He gives sleep to the one He loves. 3 Sons are indeed a heritage from the Lord, children, a reward. 4 Like arrows in the hand of a warrior are the sons born in one’s youth. 5 Happy is the man who has filled his quiver with them. Such men will never be put to shame when they speak with their enemies at the city gate.
At first glance we might ask, is this Psalm about houses and watchmen or is it about kids?
All good gifts come from God.
The kerygma of the Psalm is about kids.
But it is placing children and child rearing in it’s proper place in God’s economy.
Gifts from God aren’t just freebies that you get with no effort required.
Good gifts are often connected with good work and good stewardship.
Psalms 73–150: An Introduction and Commentary (Living Assets (127:3–5))
it is not untypical of God’s gifts that first they are liabilities, or at least responsibilities, before they become obvious assets. The greater their promise, the more likely that these sons will be a handful before they are a quiverful.
Heritage
Reward
Arrows
The nature of promises
Does the Bible guarantee our kids will be....
What?
What are we tempted to put in the blank?
Successful?
Wealthy?
Well adjusted?
So what sort of promises DOES God offer us?
And to children
12 Honor your father and your mother so that you may have a long life in the land that the Lord your God is giving you.
Ephesians 6:2–4 (HCSB)
2 Honor your father and mother, which is the first commandment with a promise, 3 so that it may go well with you and that you may have a long life in the land. 4 Fathers, don’t stir up anger in your children, but bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord.
What is an arrow?
An arrow is something very specific.
You can’t put anything on a bowstring and expect it to fly.
Talk about experiences in archery...
“When sons and daughters are arrows, it is well to have a quiver full of them; but if they are only sticks, knotty and useless, the fewer of them the better.’’ -Spurgeon
6 Teach a youth about the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it.
Raising children who are like arrows is about pointing them towards God.
Q. 1. Who is the first and best of beings? A. God is the first and best of beings. (Isaiah 44:6; Psalm 8:1; 97:9)
Q. 2. What is the chief end of man? A. Man's chief end is to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever. (1 Cor. 10:31; Psalm 73:25-26)
Misinterpretations of this passage:
I) You HAVE to have kids:
Similar to
5 God in His holy dwelling is a father of the fatherless and a champion of widows. 6 God provides homes for those who are deserted. He leads out the prisoners to prosperity, but the rebellious live in a scorched land.
Is
9 He gives the childless woman a household, making her the joyful mother of children. Hallelujah!
Part of the beauty of the church is that Christ’s body fills gaps for us that are left by unbelievably painful circumstances.
Lost your mother and father?
God has given you spiritual mothers and fathers in his family the church.
Never experienced the joy of a sibling, or at least one that has unity with you?
Christ has given you brothers and sisters in his church.
Never had a child?
God has afforded you with spiritual children in his church.
The entire gospel is a story of adoption.
If you’ve been adopted into God’s family, then you have been adopted into a real family.
A family with moms and dads, aunts and uncles, children and grandchildren, and yes, the cousins that you wish you saw a little less than you do.
II) More kids is better.
Two ways to fall off the horse.
And I find men in our culture to be way more prone to error on this front.
God wants us to have as many kids as physically possible.
Wrong.
The only time I would see this as being acceptable is if both parents are actually in agreement on this.
I personally know of two families where both parents take this view, and they have 10 and 11 kids.
But that’s not the norm.
For many women, childbirth is close to deadly.
Also, not every set of parents is actually equipped to handle that many children.
1 Peter 3:7 (LEB)
7 Husbands, in the same way live with your wives knowledgeably, as with the weaker female vessel, showing them honor as fellow heirs also of the grace of life, so that your prayers will not be hindered.
This implies that there is a way to live with your life stupidly.
At the end of the day, with scripture as our guide, we an take comfort in exactly what it Psalm 127 says, and no more.
The Psalm doesn’t list the magic number of arrows.
“a quiver may be small and yet full; and then the blessing is obtained.” - Spurgeon
Think about Hannah in the Old Testament.
1 child.
Samuel.
He was a prophet, priest, and basically a king of Israel.
Her quiver was full indeed.
2. Not paying attention to God and His word at all when it comes to kids
This one is entirely more common in our culture.
Ignoring the instructions to be fruitful and multiply,
rejecting the promise that children are a gift from the Lord,
constructing our lives to achieve an American ideal of what our families should like, not a biblical ideal.
We live in an age where men and women can essentially castrate themselves to prevent more children.
Now I am not against this.
But the pastoral question that must be asked is
“Have you asked God?”
How do we as a community equip each other to raise the children well?
The whole thrust of this passage is the understanding that kids are from God, and are a heritage.
Which communicates something being passed down.
Almost like an inheritance.
A son who throws away an inheritance is rebellious son.
We are raising God’s kids, not ours.
We don’t get to call audibles on parenting that defy the clear teaching of scripture.
Christians treat children differently.
Our kids:
Other people’s kids:
In a community, people are going to parent differently.
This is based off all sorts of things.
Family values,
family history,
kids personalities,
parents personalities,
socio economic background.
This can make community hard.
But we have a major leg up on any other group of people because we have God’s word as our central foundation.
We don’t have one person who’s a Buddhist trying to mesh their parenting with someone who is a Christian.
This alone is a fight, because the temptation is to let modern psychology be the be all end all of how we raise children.
Psychology is not bad.
But there is bad psychology.
Psychology is not opposed to God’s word.
God is not anti science, in fact he invented it.
But when our theorizing about the brains of children is done godlessly, we can expect godless theories to form godless practices that form godless children.
If our parenting is formed by psychological theories in a way that directly contradicts God’s word, then we will see negative effects.
So what brings about positive effects?
If the common goal is for children raised in the church to be these arrows that point towards God,
then that is something that we can all participate in.
Every time we interact with one of the young ones in our church we find creative ways to remind them,
“You belong to God”
“King Jesus is coming back one day.”
These very simple things orient the kids in our community towards reality.
That’s what kids need.
They need a story framework for their lives.
A tale of two families...
What’s the common denominator?
A true story.
What is the secret ingredient for parents and friends of parents?
Grace.
Grace for our kids.
Grace for ourselves.
Grace for our spouses.
Grace for our friends kids.
Grace for our friends who are parenting kids.
Grace for our childless friends who are wanting to help form these kids.
Undeserved favor.
We need the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ to mark everything that we do.