What Do We Owe Out Children?

What Do We Owe Our Children???Lessons from Lamentations #6

Lamentations 2:11 Mine eyes do fail with tears, my bowels are troubled, my liver is poured upon the earth for the destruction of the daughter of my people; because the children and sucklings swoon in the streets of the city. 12. They say to their mothers, Where is corn and wine? When they swooned as the wounded in the streets of the city, when their soul was poured out into their mother’s bosom. ….19. Arise, cry out in the night: In the beginning of the watches pour out thine heart like water before the face of the Lord: lift up thy hands toward him for the life of thy young children, that faint for hunger in the top of every street. 20. Behold, O Lord, and consider whom thou hast done this. Shall the women eat their fruit, and the children of a span long? Shall the priest and the prophet be slain in the sanctuary of the Lord? 21. The young and the old lie on the ground in the streets: my virgins and my young men are fallen by the sword; thou hast slain them in the day of thine anger; thou hast killed, and not pitied.

In any war, many innocent suffer. The children, women, and elderly often suffer disproportionately. I experienced this personally when I spent over three years in a prisoner of war camp during World War II when I was three to seven years old. In Jerusalem at the time of Jeremiah, the children were starving to death. Some were even killed and eaten by their own mothers. What do we own our children in these situations? Our pastor made a startling suggestion. We owe them controlled outrage against the sins which resulted in this destruction.

We owe our children controlled outrage:

We often are outraged when we believe that someone is depriving us of our rights. But God is outraged against sin and its consequences. David provided us a proper reaction of outrage when Goliath insulted and cursed the living God. He heard Goliath and said: “Is there not a cause?” He overcame the heavily armed giant with a slingshot and a stone.

Today our culture, like the giant Goliath, is attacking God’s institutions of marriage and family. Jesus stated in?Matthew 19:4-6 And he answered and said unto them: Have ye not read that he which made them at the beginning made them male and female. 5 And said, for this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife, and they twain shall be one flesh? 6. Wherefore, they are no more twain, but one flesh.What therefore God hath joined together let not man put asunder.?God’s Word states in?Genesis 1:27-28 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.?

God wants protection for those the vulnerable, including infants and the elderly. We are ignoring God’s Word when we abort babies, in some states even after birth. God has clearly commanded two sexes, male and female, and yet we recognize a wide variety of genders based on personal preference rather than on biological facts. In His word, God limits sex to relations between one man and one woman for a lifetime and forbids immorality. But we not only ignore His Word, but some openly flaunt immoral behavior. God states that all mankind is of one blood (Acts 17:26), but we are teaching that certain races are intrinsically inferior and have racist attitudes.

The breach (division) between the truth of God’s Word and the behavior of the people in Jerusalem was as wide as the sea.??Jeremiah asked: Who can heal thee? The answer – only God can truly heal thee. That was true in Jeremiah’s time and and is true today.

We owe our children the truth:

God established the church as the pillar and ground of the truth.?I Timothy 3:15 But if I tarry long, that thou mayest know how though oughtest to behave in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth.??Of all places, we should be able to hear the truth in the church, but some churches compromise truth in the name of love. We should speak in love, but also speak the truth without compromise.?Ephesians 4:15 But speaking the truth in love, grow up into him in all things which is the head, even Christ;?When we tell the truth, we may suffer ridicule, censorship, and rejection. We may not be popular with man. But we must obey God rather than man.

The priests and prophets in Jerusalem did not tell the truth.?Lamentations 2:14 Thy prophets have seen vain and foolish things for thee: and they have not discovered thine iniquity, to turn away thy captivity; but have seen for thee false burdens and causes of banishment. 15. All that pass by clap their hands at thee; they hiss and wag their head at the daughter of Jerusalem, saying, is this the city that men call the perfection of beauty, the joy of the earth? 16. All thine enemies have opened their mouth against thee; they hiss and gnash the teeth: they say: We have swallowed her up; certainly, this is the day that we looked for; we have found; we have seen it…?The spiritual leaders failed to tell the truth; they failed to challenge the people to return to the Lord. And see the result – the destruction of the city and the people.

We owe our children to pray for them.

Lamentations 2:18 Their heart cried unto the Lord, O wall of the daughter of Zion, let tears run down like a river day and night; give thyself no rest; let not the apple of thine eye cease: 19. Arise, cry out in the night: In the beginning of the watches pour out thine heart like water before the face of the Lord: lift up thy hands toward him for the life of thy young children, that faint for hunger in the top of every street. 20. Behold, O Lord, and consider whom thou hast done this. Shall the women eat their fruit, and the children of a span long? Shall the priest and the prophet be slain in the sanctuary of the Lord? 21. The young and the old lie on the ground in the streets: my virgins and my young men are fallen by the sword; thou hast slain them in the day of thine anger; thou hast killed, and not pitied.?We need to cry out to the Lord in prayer.

The answer to the prayer is quite clear. We need to return to the Lord.??2 Chronicles 7:14 If my people, who are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven, and forgive their sin, and will heal their land.? #God's wrath #repentance