Kids Safety

2 Kings 11:3

He remained hidden with his nurse at the temple of the LORD for six years while Athaliah ruled the land.

When we were considering which church to attend here in Cebu, one of our prayed-for considerations was a good Sunday School for our kids. I was a product of one and I know how much it’d help me raise them well in the faith. Although back in history, this movement in England was actually a literacy program for the poor child laborers, and not for church people. With Sunday as their only day off, they used this time to teach them reading and writing with the Bible as main textbook. One site wrote: ‘Sunday schools provided an alternative to Sunday rowdiness’. Delinquency was rampant then and they hoped that through these classes, moral transformation would take place. With the Bible in their hands, it sure made a difference to millions of children.

When Joash was born, it was not the best time in history either. He was still being nursed when his father, King Ahaziah, died in the hands of the Syrians. Next we read of his grandmother Athaliah who murdered all his sibling-princes so she could take the crown. Imagine being unsafe in your own home. Where would you run? And as a babe, how could he run? But in God’s eyes, no dark year in history is dark at all. To Him, night shines like the day. In His sovereignty, He orchestrated Josiah’s aunt to be there at the time of the massacre to hide him. And for six years, he was kept hidden in the temple, raised by Jehoiada the priest. It was a breath of fresh air in all Judah to witness the coronation of this young boy – Scriptures on hand and God’s anointing on his head. For a time, he was thought to be the great grandson of the wicked Ahab. But that day, everybody remembered he was first of all, a son of David.

‘It’s not safe out there’.  I can still hear my parents worried sigh whenever I ask for their permission to go out with my friends twenty years ago. Soon, it will be my time to look out at that window and I’m guessing I’d probably give the same script.  Who’d not be alarmed with the bad news left and right, day and night? But come to think of it, the world was just a family of four when Adam’s son was killed by his firstborn. Home is not the safest place. God is. No sheep of His can be snatched from His hands.  Let’s teach our children to listen to His voice. With Scriptures on hand, they have a light to their path. That even in the valley of the shadow of death, they can walk and not fear. But don’t just bring them to Sunday School. Be with them in church. Jeremiah 23 says, ‘I will place shepherds over them who will tend them, and they will no longer be afraid or terrified, nor will any be missing’. Teachers exist because parents do not. Hold that Bible now and read it to your child. Later may be too late. 

That's Different

1 Kings 12:32

He instituted a festival on the fifteenth day of the eighth month, like the festival held in Judah, and offered sacrifices on the altar. This he did in Bethel, sacrificing to the calves he had made. And at Bethel he also installed priests at the high places he had made.

It’s a joy that God brought me back to leading kids in worship. It has been more than six years, so admittedly, all the workshops I handled within that time frame, including two big seminars last year, were all in theory. But grace pulled those off. Now I have the chance to practice what I preached. Last night, I browsed through Kathleen Chapman’s book again, ‘Teaching Kids Authentic Worship’.  Her main idea is to make sure kids time is focused on God alone - - to discover the million fascinating things about Him and to stand in awe of Him. Then I realized how little I actually lead the kids in worship that morning. July’s theme is about perseverance and I became so caught up in making them understand the big word that I failed to highlight the big God. Oh how often do we serve in His kingdom but never talk about the King? Worst, if we never talk TO the King :<

It was just the previous chapter that God spoke to Jeroboam through Ahijah, giving him the leadership of the bigger, ten tribes with a promise that if he will walk uprightly, he can have a dynasty as enduring as David’s. He did nothing  to earn nor deserve the claim but it all conveniently landed on his lap. Now we read on verse twenty five his primary project, the fortification of Shechem and Penuel, then on twenty eight, his next priority, the altars in Bethel and Dan. All were intended to secure his kingdom - - from outsiders and from his southern brothers. His being part of dividing the kingdom made him paranoid to the same idea. The grandeur of Jerusalem’s temple (especially the truth that God’s Name resides there) threatened him and so he pursued copying the religious system, with a twist. Instead of one God, he offered the people two calves (calves!!! seriously?) ; instead of one place of worship, he  opened two (can’t beat quality? go quantity!); instead of tapping Levites, he allowed all sorts of people to priestly duties (hmm, vote buying?); and he scheduled their tabernacle feast a month later than God’s appointed date (for distinction sake?).  Oh how tiring, vain pursuit! All he need was to trust God to keep His promise.  He who began a good work in him will be faithful to complete it.  Obviously, Jeroboam became so absorbed in kingdom concerns, it consumed him into thinking it was his to keep. He forgot the King who rules above him and it all.

We have been taught the greatest commandment. I think most of us memorized the Ten. We know the most important thing and yet we live our lives, daily, disregarding it. Solomon, the wisest who ever lived, after a list of all meaningless pursuits, ended his book with this: ‘Fear God and keep His commandments’.  But how come his declared-meaningless are the very things that occupy our schedules: wisdom, pleasures, toil, advancement, riches.  The least we can allot God is some quiet time in the morning and a Sabbath once a week. Have we been faithful? Guess what? Shall we compartmentalize our lives and give Him just a portion? Shall we categorize worship under religion when He’s calling us into a relationship? It’s the sad line in Don Moen’s Praise Looks Good On You:  ‘You lift your voice in singing, but your heart seems far away’.  Yes, not even working in His kingdom equates with worshipping the King.  His works may be a reflection of His character, but it’s still not Him. Knowing the law doesn’t make us law abiders either. How about you? Can you spot the difference?