Children of the Wilderness

A verse from Proverbs was often used as a homeschool mantra, “Raise up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old, he will not depart from it.”

Something subtly expressed was that not homeschooling meant not raising up your own children. Since you could not “teach these things when you rose and sat down and walked along the way,” you were taking a risk with their eternity.

There’s a treacherous thread of prosperity doctrine woven into this. The assumption is that it’s transactional to raise your children in a God-fearing home and they will grow up to know God.

As though parents can remove the dignity of freewill that God gave to humanity.

The Israelite children who grew up in the desert saw nothing but provision and miracles. They didn’t know that normal shoes wear down each year. They took for granted food dripping from the sky, and the visible proof of God’s presence. On a small scale, this is a child’s understanding when raised in a Christian home, even if parents are clear about life before salvation and where they’ve come from. Even if things are not perfect and you wander as a family in the wilderness.

Experientially, these children only know the plunder of the Egyptians and the hope of the promised land.

In Be Amazed Warren W. Wiersbe writes about this generation of Israelites. He says, “God set them free and guided them to their inheritance, but within one generation after the death of Joshua, the nation turned to a dollar tree, and forsook the Lord.”

One generation.

Sometimes kids who are raised in the church reject it all, knowingly. Sure, they may claim hypocrisy is the reason they left. But, undoubtedly, you, as a parent, didn’t applaud or foster hypocrisy.

Train up a child is a good proverb, but it doesn’t play out that way in many stories of the Bible.

Aaron’s sons were raised up in service to God and saw the original generation of ordination. Maybe they were so comfortable with the temple that they decided they knew enough and could approach God however they wanted. They died in his presence. Leviticus 10:1-2

Samuel’s sons had a godly upbringing in the temple, but took bribes and perverted justice. 1 Samuel 8:1-3

Joseph’s brothers sold him into slavery because of jealousy. Genesis 37

I’m sure all of David’s children, a man after God’s own heart, grew up hearing stories of David’s divine rescues, his praise music and poetry. But David’s son raped his daughter and discarded her when he could have redeemed the situation. 2 Samuel 13:1-32

Admittedly, there were obvious parenting failures in the last two situations. Jacob showed clear favoritism to the first son of his favorite wife, Joseph. And David didn’t deal with his rapist son, so another son took punishment into his own hands when Absalom killed the rapist. So even if David ran after God his whole life, he had moments of failure being an apathetic, inattentive or weak parent.

But Adam was born into a perfect environment with a perfect parent.

Don’t cast judgement by asking the parent of a prodigal their success rate. “Are any of your other kids following the Lord?” As though a higher percentage toward apostasy reflects the home life. Out of God’s first two kids, 100% chose to disobey.

And, actually, so did everyone else after that. None are righteous, no, not one.

Franklin Graham endorsed Prayers for Prodigals, saying that his mother would have loved the book, because he was one. I loved the book because I am not sure where I’d be without the prayers of my mom and grandma.

There is no guarantee that a child raised in a godly home will choose the Lord.

And there’s no guarantee they’ll stay in the wilderness.