I’m not sure I want to bring any more children into a world like this.
You may have heard these words—or even said them.
I have traveled several times to Israel and, within hours of landing at Tel Aviv Airport, we always travel south to a kibbutz near the Wilderness of Zin. You discover rather quickly that the prettiest parts of Israel are in the well-watered north. And those parts are a lot smaller than the southern wildernesses.
When you hear about the children of Israel traveling through the desert, what kind of desert did you think it was? Rather uncomfortable? Well, it’s a brutal desolation both sizzling hot and bitterly cold. Limestone cliffs and rugged travel routes and sandstorms. There were bedouin raiders and vicious tribal communities like the Amalekites. And the generations who ultimately entered Canaan were schooled in these deserts for forty years.
Jesus spent forty days in the wilderness, facing down temptation and emerging into a world-changing ministry.
I have heard parents express apprehension about the future of their Christian children living in a post-modern culture. Our faith is under pressure around the world. Violent attacks against believers across the Middle East, in China, India, Pakistan, and Africa, occur daily.
Here in our country, we listen in disbelief as those in the high positions of power seem reluctant to renounce these assaults and express support for Christian populations across the world. Here, too, the tenets of our faith are under intense pressure from the courts, state and local governments—and school boards.
But we were never promised easy. We were, in fact, promised tribulation. Here in this blessed land, we just weren’t sure he meant us, were we? We thought our faith would be securely protected by, for example, the Constitution, by a history steeped in biblical values. Those assumptions are looking increasingly naive.
As Austrian neurologist, psychiatrist, and holocaust survivor, Viktor Frankl, observed:
What is to give light must endure burning.
Fact is, kids need to be taught a muscular, gritty faith by parents focused on One Thing. Don’t be afraid to tell your children that:
- Jesus said we would all have great difficulties in this world,
- but that he has overcome the world and all its trouble,
- and, therefore, we do not fear the future.
The desert shapes character and builds spiritual muscle. They need to see you modeling this truth and facing the future with confidence—and joy.
Photo on my homepage is the northern area of the Wilderness of Zin
Photo this page by ThanhTN on Pixabay