Raising Arrows

It's a catchy saying for sure, that has made its way onto memes and the backs of cars but what does it mean, "Raising Arrows"? It comes from the book of Psalm 127:4-5 AS arrows are in the hand of a mighty man; so are children of the youth.Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them: they shall not be ashamed, but they shall speak with the enemies in the gate.

Children are arrows? you might wonder. Sure its a catchy bumper sticker but what does it mean? What does it mean to raise arrows and why would my children be speaking to the enemies at the gate?

To Answer these questions let's go back in time to the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim the king of Judah. Recorded in the first chapter of the book of Daniel is the story of four hebrew children taken captive from their homes and everything they ever knew to the land of Babylon. These are young men taken hostage by a foreign king. As teenagers they are marched from Jerusalem to Babylon, from their homes and lives and everything they had every known to an uncertain future in a far away land. Behind them lay their city in rubble the Temple of their God was a smoldering heap of what it once was. Their God, Jehovah seems to have abandoned them into the hands of these pagan babylonians for sins they themselves never commited.

Now in Babylon they are given new names to match their new identities. Daniel- God is my judge becomes Belteshazzar-lord of the straightened treasure. Hananiah- God has favored becomes Shadrach- the great scribe. Mishael- Who is what God is is named Meshach- the guest of the king. The biggest blow comes to Azariah- Jehovah has helped now in this distant land he becomes Abednego - servant of Nego. These are names contrary to what their parents named them, these are names that reflect their new positions in Babylon. They have been taken captive, carried away to a foreign land, renamed, and physically mutilated to become eunuchs.

The one token comfort in all this was that they had been chosen to be taught in the ways of the Chaldeans. They were favoured by the pagan king and allowed to eat and drink from his vary reserves. the same food and wine that would grace the king's table would also be the allotment to these young people far from home. There was only one problem much of what was on the menu was unkosher for the hebrew diet.

While most of the young people who has grown up in the same place as these 4 happily ate and drank their fill of the kings portion Daniel, Hananiah, Misheal, and Azariah refused.

Rather than be feed the cuisine of their captors they opted instead for the pulse and water of separation. Unchanged by their surroundings, and with the other kids from the youth group drunk with the wine of compromise these four stood tall.

I have to think the convictions to not partake of the kings meat didnt come on the the march to Babylon. I don't think that the smoke rising from the top of Mt Moriah as the temple smoldered forever settled it in their hearts that they would serve the LORD all the days of their lives. These young men were arrows.

These young men were the culmination of evenings spent hearing the stories of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. To them going to worship had not been a question of if we go to temple or synagogue, but an understanding that if the doors were opened and service was happening our family would be there.

Their parents were intentional

For an arrow to hit its mark the aim must be true. Resolve and character of this sort doesn't just happen because mom and dad made sure the kids went into the church but rather they were intentional that church went into the kids. Church cannot be just a place we go but church has to be who we are. and it must be modeled daily inside the four walls of your home. Let the spirit of the youth minister speak for a minute, The things that are messing your kids up is not the things they are brushing past in this world it's the things you the parent are allowing to go on inside your home.

We know as a seperated people to have our guards up when we are outside of the home or the church. While we are bombarded by worldliness while out it's not the worldliness outside that's taking root in the younger generation its the worldliness that's being brought inside the safe space of the home.

Let's break this down. when you take your child to the supermarket they will most likely hear worldly music playing as you shop. You can't help that. They will see people dressed in all sorts of ungodly unholy manners. Again you cannot help that. now standing at the checkout counter there is a smorgasbord of unholy words and pictures plastered all over the tabloids and magazines on the racks your standing by. But again you cannot help that. The fact is painfully obvious that we are in the world, what must become just as obvious to your little arrows is that though we are in the world we are not part of the world.

Let me be brutally honest

The thing that's going to make your daughter feel like her skirt and long hair is a hindrance to fitting in isn't the tabloids at the supermarket it's the things you allow into your home and the people you allow to influence her inside the safe space of the home. The thing that's giving your sons over to pornoghraphy and lust isnt whats on the tabloid cover its whats on the television screen inside the safe place of the home. Home is where we take our guards down and allow people and circumstances to influence who we are. While it is an absolute shame what is going on in our world today, surely good is being called evil and evil good, if we don't allow it inside the home it won't have the damaging effects on our kids as it would from inside the home.

Arrows fly away

For the arrow to find its home it must be loosed. Sadly there will come a day when we have to release our children from our control. Weather it's because they start a family of their own or move away to college there always comes a day when our arrows will fly away. The day these four boys flew away was not a moment their parents could have dreamed of planning for. But still they left their control.

I think it's worth noting the events of the third ch. of Daniel concerning three of these young men. There come a day when the king had an evil plan to make all his subjects bow and worship the golden idol. the penalty for refusing his plan of idolatry was to be thrown into the fiery furnace. we tend to always skip to the end when the fourth man was in the fire with them whose appearance was like the son of God. But don't gloss over the fact that bowing in worship to the idol now where the same young people who ate and drank from the king's table then. A spirit of compromise they learned at home had travelled with them to Babylon. Caused them to go along to get along when it was just some good food that benefited them until now they bowed before an idol.

Loosed arrows with tru aim hit their mark

When the arrows speak with the enemy at the gate its not to welcome them in. The way we defeat the enemy is by releasing arrows that have been trained in how to fly. We talk about wanting a world changing revival but settle for the everyday mundane inside our homes. the fact is our children will go farther and see more than we ever will. That's the thing with arrows they go on ahead. If we want to change the world with revival we must begin with the ones in our care now who will go out further and live longer than we will. Our children are how we can change the world. They are how we defeat the enemy, how we vanquish the generational curses of our families. We loose well trained arrows that know how to fly and by hitting their marks they destroy the enemies we've fought.

Ronald Reagan said "we are never more than one generation away from losing our freedoms. it's not passed down through our bloodstreams but must be fought for and won by every generation." This is certainly true with freedom and is true of the church.

Our kids don't become settled in doctrines because of their last names. Someday they will have to fight for the doctrine and settle before the world who they are. while the winds of this world may push on them they will not knock them off course if our aim is true.