The Departure
Do you remember the very first time you brought your child home from the hospital? Think back to your firstborn, if you have more than one child. Can you remember it like it was yesterday?
This summer, we married off our firstborn. He escorted his mother down the aisle, and after that, a beautiful young lady followed, one that he would take by the hand and begin to lead and care for. I can remember being in the delivery room when he was born, and it feels like it was yesterday. It was one of the most amazing moments of my life. We then took him home and, for over 19 years, raised him to be sent out from our home. There were many times during those years that we had to get his attention and teach him important lessons. There were times when we needed his complete focus, like when he first learned to walk. We didn’t want him to focus on his surroundings, but on who he was walking toward. His surroundings could distract him, and we wanted him to understand exactly where his focus should be. The first time he played sports in front of a crowd, we wanted him to focus on his opponent and coaches, not on the distractions of the crowd around him. All of this was to establish focus in his life and help him understand authority. To send him out into the world on solid ground, we spent years in training.
We begin this new series at the end, rather than the beginning. How do you raise a child, a generation, to depart from your home? How do you create an environment where they are focused on Jesus and not the distractions around them? The very first Sunday the newlyweds were back from their honeymoon, I opened the Life360 app, searched his location, and saw that they were at church on Sunday morning. He woke himself up, led his new bride, and was sitting in church—fellowshipping with other believers and hearing God’s Word preached. How did this happen? Yes, our son had to own his own faith, but we also spent 19 years intentionally preparing and teaching him for that moment.
After wandering in the desert for 40 years under Moses' leadership, the Israelites were finally ready to enter the Promised Land. Before this could happen, God needed to get their attention, give them final instructions, and remind them of His authority in their lives, as well as the importance of obeying His commands. In Deuteronomy 29, God made a new covenant with the Israelites in addition to the covenant they had already received. For 40 years, God, like my wife and I during the 19 years our son was in our home, taught the people lesson after lesson and prepared them to experience a new life—one of greater abundance and reward than they had ever known. As my pastor often says, the Israelites made mistakes in a small arena before being sent to the big stage of life.
The covenant God made with His children was simple, setting them apart for a life of obedience.
“And shalt return unto the Lord thy God, and shalt obey his voice according to all that I command thee this day, thou and thy children, with all thine heart, and with all thy soul;” Deuteronomy 30:2
“And the Lord thy God will circumcise thine heart, and the heart of thy seed, to love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, that thou mayest live.” Deuteronomy 30:6
God knows what’s best for us, but we often think we do. The Lord knew that the Israelite nation wouldn’t always be obedient; they had proven that time and again. But at the beginning of Deuteronomy 30, our loving Father predicts how He will regather Israel after the disobedience that would scatter them among the nations. It was out of great love for His children that He made covenants and promised to bring them back together. This same love is what we have for our children when we send them out. It’s a love that desires what is best for them—both in this life and for eternity. We want our children to experience great success in life and certainly in eternity. When our children depart from our homes after 18 to 20 years of training, how are they departing? Are they leaving with the same love and blessing they entered with? We carry our children into our house for the very first time, and years later, we watch them walk out of our home for the last time, launching into a completely new experience—the "Promised Land," we pray. What are we doing during the time between birth and departure to ensure they are entering the promised land?
To understand what God did with His own children, you must rewind the story to the beginning.
“Now these are the commandments, the statutes, and the judgments, which the Lord your God commanded to teach you, that ye might do them in the land whither ye go to possess it: That thou mightest fear the Lord thy God, to keep all his statutes and his commandments, which I command thee, thou, and thy son, and thy son's son, all the days of thy life; and that thy days may be prolonged. Hear therefore, O Israel, and observe to do it; that it may be well with thee, and that ye may increase mightily, as the Lord God of thy fathers hath promised thee, in the land that floweth with milk and honey. Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord: And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart: And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up. And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes. And thou shalt write them upon the posts of thy house, and on thy gates. And it shall be, when the Lord thy God shall have brought thee into the land which he sware unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give thee great and goodly cities, which thou buildedst not, And houses full of all good things, which thou filledst not, and wells digged, which thou diggedst not, vineyards and olive trees, which thou plantedst not; when thou shalt have eaten and be full; Then beware lest thou forget the Lord, which brought thee forth out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage. Thou shalt fear the Lord thy God, and serve him, and shalt swear by his name.” Deuteronomy 6:1-13
This is the foundation. This is where it all begins. A family, a church, a community, a nation—all begin with this type of biblical upbringing at the core.
“Hear therefore, O Israel, and observe to do it; that it may be well with thee, and that ye may increase mightily, as the Lord God of thy fathers hath promised thee, in the land that floweth with milk and honey.” Deuteronomy 6:3
Mr. Euler has over 20 years of experience working in Christian Schools, 13 as a Head of School and is currently the Head of School at Word of God Academy, Shreveport, LA., a ministry of Word of God Ministries.
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