What God Wants Us to Teach Our Children

by Michael Dante Aprile

When I sat down to write this document, I had learned and meditated on the scripture concerning an important subject and had accumulated tons of research on my mind. All this was in and on my mind, yet I was not sure how to funnel it all down to a narrow understandable and cohesive train of thought in order to present it in a comprehensible form.

This information is the culmination of many hours of research on a lifetime of information that answers an important question; about something I believe every parent is concerned. Yet many parents may be, at the same time, so surprised, at the conclusion of what this presentation says, that they may not be able to accept it, readily and all at once.

As it is good to do, I wrote it all down in as cohesive a manner as I was able to, and then just let it sit for a while. This research is comprised of nearly 100 pages of evidence – single-spaced. That is a book, by most publishing standards. But, it just sat there waiting for God’s blessing and approval.

Then one morning, as is often His way, God gave me what I believe to be an essential part of that for which I was looking. The key to learning the answer to the question what does God wants us to teach our children is actually in “meditation.” Now, don’t start looking around for a Guru, because this is not that kind of meditation. Lets consider Psalms 49:3 where the sons of Korah said, “My mouth shall speak of wisdom; and the meditation of my heart shall be of understanding.” Here we see that these sons speak with wisdom that comes from an understanding derived from “meditation.” Is that not curious? Now let’s look at another verse that tells something else about this, which is just as curious. Psalms 119:99 tells us, “I have more understanding than all my teachers: for thy testimonies are my meditation.” David, the father of the wisest man that ever lived, wrote this. He effectively says, in this verse, that all his wisdom; all he knows comes from his meditation on scripture – on God’s Word. We see this same idea again in Psalms 119:24, where David testifies that, “Thy testimonies also are my delight and my counselors.” We can also see the weight of this in 2 Timothy 3:15-17, where Paul writes, “And that from a child thou hast known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works.”

We parents spend a great deal of effort, and often a great deal of our money, to make sure that our children are rightly educated and to see to it that their course is one that will eventually lead to success – the best we know it. Yet, we have not all seen success ourselves in the sense that we chose a career or path or course in life that made us truly joyful as we had hoped or maybe as our parents had hoped. I am determined that we have fallen into a certain tradition about how to accomplish this for ourselves and therefore for our children, especially when I read Joshua 1:8, where we are told that “This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success.” Now didn’t I just hear God’s Word explain how to be prosperous and have good success? Isn’t this what we have sought after, for ourselves, and have desired for our children in their education? What did the passage say to do to achieve this goal? “Meditate.” Meditate day and night. Then, to make this effective, we must act according to your meditation. Now, we always act according to our meditation, however, I believe we are perhaps meditating, and our children are meditating, on the wrong things.

Our children are meditating on books from the library instead of “Thee” Book. We are meditating on how to make a living in the world, instead of living according to the Maker. We are teaching our children to do the same. After all, you say, “How can Jason hope to be successful, if he doesn’t study his math?” Well, just ask yourself a few related questions? How were the son’s of Korah successful? How did Solomon become so wise? Where did Noah learn to build such a large and successful craft? Where did all the craftsmen learn to make the fine things for David’s Temple? Where did those women learn to weave those thick and elaborate curtains for David’s Temple? Where did Peter the fisherman learn to speak so elegantly that he brought so many to salvation? There is something operative here that, once we have taken hold of it, will make us able to reach our goals of teaching our children what God wants them to know.

The real key to understanding, from whence true education comes, is in passages such as Psalms 1:2, where we are told of the blessed man that, “…his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in His law doth he meditate day and night.” Now the Law of the LORD is synonymous with the Scriptures and all of God’s Word. Otherwise, whatever God says is the law. The admonition to meditate day and night indicates that there is no time that His Word is not to be operative in our, and our children’s, life and thinking. This should preach to us all against thinking that the Bible is for Sunday school and only useful for those times when we teach our children spiritual lessons. God’s Word is for all the time, every day, every hour, and every moment. God’s Word is certainly not just for Sunday school but is for regular school also.

The part of this information that I felt would be so difficult for parents to swallow or digest was this part. I am not even certain how to tell you, other than to say that teaching our children according to God’s plan is learning supernaturally. That is to say, through the Spirit of God, from God, by meditation on His Word. Just listen for a moment to this passage from Isaiah 11:2-3: “And the Spirit of the LORD shall rest upon Him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD; and shall make Him of quick understanding in the fear of the LORD: and He shall not judge after the sight of his eyes, neither reprove after the hearing of His ears.” And then just add to this the hearing of Luke 2:52 about the same person: “And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man.” We see from these verses that Jesus, God’s Son, was given God’s Spirit Who instilled in Him knowledge, which came from the reverence of God His Father and His Word and gave Him “quick understanding.” This quick understanding did not come from any textbook that we hold dear to us in teaching today. Neither did this quick understanding come from years of institutional learning or private tutoring. It came instead from the Holy Spirit that had come upon Him. It was further indicated that He took little account of what was set before His eyes, or said to Him, so as to be able to hear what that Spirit within Him, the Holy Spirit of God, had to teach Him. This equates well with meditation.

You might well ask here, would this happen to anyone who was just “regular people” like us, as opposed to someone like Jesus? Who, after all, could compare to Jesus? The answer is, “Yes.” We can see in Exodus 31:1-3 that God did this with the common people who were tradesmen, where we read, “And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, see, I have called by name Bezaleel the son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah: and I have filled him with the Spirit of God, in wisdom, and in understanding, and in knowledge, and in all manner of workmanship.” This man and others, such as Aholiab, the son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan, worked to devise cunning works in gold, silver, brass, cutting of stones to set them, and in carving of timber in all manner of workmanship. And the key was that they were said to be ones who were “wise hearted” (Exodus 31:6). Being wise hearted equates to having understanding of God and His commandments. These people kept God in their hearts or meditated on His Word at all times. Most important to recognize here was that they learned, as did Jesus, through God’s intervention, very quickly, with no training or schooling. These couple of men may not be enough to convince you. That, being the case, look at Exodus 35:26, where “…all the women whose heart stirred them up in wisdom spun goats’ hair.” They were given wisdom how to spin this hair to make curtains for the tabernacle. Look at Daniel 1:17, where it is spoken of Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah saying, “As for these four children, God gave them knowledge and skill in all learning and wisdom: and Daniel had understanding in all visions and dreams.” Notice it does not say that they were schooled in the finest school, or were tutored in the Kings palace, or any such claim. It says that God gave them knowledge in skill of all learning and wisdom. What do you suppose was their focus in life? It was God and His Word. We know this by following the story wherein we discover they knew it was wise not to have other god’s before God Almighty and knew about the dietary requirements of God’s law.

This very discovery, that God has a school that is higher than our thoughts and ways, is very good. Yet it is hard to swallow. We must come to discover, to accept, and to realize that the ways we have devised to teach our children are not His way. We cannot begin to understand what God has for our children. However, when we understand that we do not know how, or what, to teach our children, and begin to loose the temptation to sidestep His method and provision, then we will be able to see to it that our children have a superior education. I hope this is an understandable statement. The only way that our children will be successful, in the true sense of the word “successful,” will be for them to meditate, with or without our help, on God’s Word day and night. I realize it is hard for us to understand how studying Scripture will teach subjects to our children; however, I can assure you it will. We don’t have to understand it. I know this is hard, because faith is involved. Scripture has God’s approval and, somehow, in a way that only God knows, our children can actually learn math, science, history, social studies and all the subjects that are important to their success, in this world, and the one to come. When God brought us salvation, He pinged it on faith. He said that, “faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen” (Hebrews 11:1). We can’t see how God can teach all things through meditation on Scripture, however, we are admonished in Proverbs 3:5-6 to “Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.” Obviously, we will not understand everything. If we could direct our own paths, why would we need to trust God?

Here is the great news about teaching our children through the Scriptures, as we sit, stand, lie down, get up, and walk with them, telling them about and learning about the Words God inspired through them (Deuteronomy 6:7). The longer we permit God’s Word to dwell in, or live in, and among us (Colossians 3:16), the more our children and we will begin to enjoy growing in it day-by-day (Psalm 92:12). The growth that we experience from this exercise will be exponential to expand God’s knowledge within us, with the result of giving us the mind of Christ (1 Corinthians 2:16) through the workings and manifestation (1 Corinthians 12:7-8) of God’s Holy Spirit, who works with our spirit to do this (Romans 8:16). This is something that has been predicted and is nothing short of a supernatural provision of God. God shows us that this has always been in His intention for each of us (Exodus 18:20), and He promises us that this is how His Word becomes operative in us, if we are faithful in it (Deuteronomy 7:9).

In and through no other medium is it possible to teach what is taught through Scripture (2 Timothy 3:16). The Words of Scripture are a gift to us, being more precious than gold or silver (Psalm 19:10), or any gem on earth, or anywhere in existence. The words of many other books have the potential of having import on our daily lives, for a time, and even of growing us to a point, however, when it comes to the Words of Scripture, that import and growth has no limit (2 Corinthians 4:16). We can read other books, or study their content, but the amount of knowledge that can be gleaned from them will eventually come to an end. This is not even a possibility, within the Words of Scripture. We can read the same Words of Scripture, over and over again, over many days, months, and years, and we will never fail to get something new from them. In fact, we are encouraged to do this (Joshua 1:8). The reason that the Words of Scripture have this precious gift is that these words, like no others, are alive (Job 23:12; John 6:68). The Words of Scripture are actually living, breathing, and also life-giving, Words (Acts 5:20). God acts in and through them.

The Word of God has been around from the beginning of creation (John 1:1), and probably before that, and God used this living Word to manifest the whole of creation and all that has ever lived (Genesis 1:3). In fact, the term “universe” comes from "uni" meaning "one" and from "verse" which means written or spoken words. It is revealed, in God’s Word, that God had His Word become flesh (John 1:14) and inspired men to speak it and write it (2 Peter 1:21), so that it could live in us and guide us to all truth. If we take it upon ourselves to read, study, and meditate upon His Word, God has made it possible for us to gain wisdom and knowledge, beyond what can be taught by men (Job 38:4). No one can know the depth of God’s knowledge (Romans 11:33-34), except for the Spirit of God. No one can know the depth of a man’s heart except for this Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit can teach us those deep things that we cannot learn otherwise – those mysteries of life – through the language of God’s Word (1 Corinthians 2:10). God has specifically designed His Word for this purpose. Unless we show our will to know the things of God and this life, through purposefully meditating upon His Word, day and night, we will be confounded by what we try to know otherwise (1 Corinthians 1:27). It is primarily through the study of Scripture that we will be able to find true Wisdom and Knowledge for our children, and us, that will lead to a joyful life with prosperity and success (Psalm 1:2-3).

I am not, therefore, as concerned with understanding that widely used passage of scripture “Train up a child….” (from Proverbs 22:6) as I am with helping parents to understand Deuteronomy chapter 6. This is because Deuteronomy chapter 6 is the desire of God’s heart for His children, in more than just training and knowledge. It is squarely in the will of God and His plan to bring a people back to living a life for Him, rather than for their selves. God tells Moses He wants him to love God, in verse 5, to keep His words in his heart, in verse 6, and, in verse 7, God commands, “thou shalt teach [God’s words] diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of [God’s words] when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.”

What a powerful testimony for explaining God’s desire for parents to teach at home. It also shows one other crucial element of schooling at home, as well as of life, and that is how it is the parents’ responsibility to teach their children. Parents must begin by allowing God to teach them, and then they should teach what they learn to their children. Yet, they are not the only teachers. In fact, parents are merely what is called “tutelage,” as it was with the Old Testament Law. God is the teacher, that is, God’s Spirit within our children and within us. The textbook is now, and we will see that it has been always, the Holy Scriptures (God’s Word; the Bible).

Then in verse 10 of Deuteronomy chapter 6, God tells Moses that, as a reward for teaching these things, He will give them the blessing of the territory that He promised for those who, by these actions, show that they truly love Him. The blessings He promised are very interesting. God promised houses that they did not build, full of good things that they did not find, with wells that they did not have to dig, vineyards and olive trees that they did not have to plant, and food to their fullness. In verses 13-14, God tells Moses that the purpose for this teaching is so his children do not go after other gods in their life and remain faithful only to Him.

God has made it very clear to Moses that his children, as with all children, are prone to rebellion and especially to the ways of the wicked generation among which they are made to dwell. We see this in the way children tend to see any rebellion around them as exciting, in everything from movies to television programs to cartoon features to the children in the neighborhood where they live. Even books about rebellion have drawn their attention. This is easy to see in the way the Harry Potter books rose so quickly to fame (see 1 Samuel 15:23).

As much as I looked for even a hint of it, I could not find, even an instance, where God brought up a need to study math, science, history, or social studies or any of the other issues home scholars concern themselves about today. Could it be that God is not hip to all the important subjects that children need to learn today? Of course, this is only an absurd question. Yet, at the same time, it is also a very interesting question.

So as not to leave the question one about whether God’s admonition to Moses applies to us today, we should simply look at Ephesians 6:4, where God tells us to “…bring them [our children] up in the admonition of the Lord.” Now, the Greek word for “admonition” means a “mild rebuke or warning” that is meant “to call [their] attention” to what the Lord wants them to understand or realize. Now there are so-called scholars today who would tell us, and do tell us, that this admonishment means that discipline is a useful and prime motivator toward the child’s teaching and upbringing. But, perhaps, to the dislike of those teachers, discipline, having its place, was not recommended by God to be used to accomplish teaching. Discipline, as with the Law, was instituted as a means of showing right from wrong, according to God’s Law, and for no other reason. Just as the Law was never intended to bring people to salvation, discipline was never intended, by God, as a means to teach. We see that the first part of verse 4 in Deuteronomy chapter 6 instructs fathers, “…provoke not your children to wrath.” Children learn nothing good by wrath. This wisdom about learning is repeated again, in Colossians 3:21, where it is added that making them angry will only lead them to discouragement. A discouraged child not only will not learn what you teach, but you can expect that “…when he is old, he will not depart from [discouragement].”

So, it is not so much the concern here to bring them up in discipline, as it is to read to them and tell them continuously about the Bible. Here is an interesting, true story I ran across:

“My mother read every night from the Bible. And I think, by way of looking back on it, that gave me, even in my infancy, an acquaintance with books. My maternal grandmother in Bloomington, Texas had two books in the house. One was the Bible and the other was the Sears Roebuck Catalogue. And when we visited Grandma Paige on the farm down near Bloomington, by kerosene lamp -- this is not an Abe Lincoln story, but electricity had not come to rural Texas -- my grandmother would read first from the Bible, and then read me to sleep by reading wonderful things in the Sears Roebuck Catalogue. But in my mother and father's house, my mother read the Bible.”
Dan Rather