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My 4-year-old son and I were recently reading from his Bible. He's known the story of David and Goliath for a long time but on this particular night, he had really zereod in on it. He asked a lot of questions, and spent a long time looking at pictures and thinking.
Later that night, he had a level of anxiety that I can only describe as supernatural. He was fervently praying that God would change Goliath's heart so that Goliath would love God and not be mean anymore. I think he did pray this out of genuine concern for Goliath's soul, but an underlying motivator was that he thought that if God didn't intervene, Goliath was going to come for him in his bed that night.
He was overwrought with fear and worry and just couldn't calm down. I tried to soothe him. I prayed with him. I sang to him. I rubbed his back and snuggled him. Nothing would comfort him.
Perplexed, I called my Pastor. I shared with him what had been going on and asked if he had something to suggest. He suggested that I read psalms of comfort to Matthew.
Scripture is a part of our parenting. We read it together. I use it to help Matthew:
- to love the Word (“Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet”)
- to know the gospel (“For God so loved the world”)
- to encourage him (“God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power, and love, and a sound mind”)
- to advise him (“If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God”)
- to correct him (“Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right“)
- to challenge him (“God's ways are not our ways, and [His] thoughts are not our thoughts“)
- to praise him (“Let no one look down on you because you are young…”)
- and to instruct him in our faith, our heritage, and our mode for living
But I am embarrassed to admit that it had not occurred to me to use scripture to comfort him in his fear.
I've determined this is because in most of the other examples, the meaning is concrete and easy to break down to a barely 4-year-old. We haven't spent a lot of time in the more metaphorical portions of scripture yet, because in general, given both his age and his personality, those things are hard for him to comprehend.
In believing that he couldn't understand it, I dismissed the power of God's Word to penetrate his heart even when Matthew's brain couldn't comprehend it. Sisters, how wrong I was!
As I read from psalm after psalm, Matthew's spirit changed. His fear was replaced by peace. His restlessness was stilled and sleep soon came. I don't think he cognitively understood more than a few sentences of what I read, (at 4, he knows not what a pasture, or a valley, or evil is) but the Word ministered to his heart.
It took a hold where darkness was trying to. Though his brain couldn't understand the words, Matthew's heart learned a little more that the Word of God has power, and that the Spirit of God is our comforter.
I was challenged and humbled by how much I still have to learn and explore in this parenting-through-the-Word journey. But I am also excited to continue to overturn rocks in the dark corners.
Is there an area of your parenting that the Word of God could penetrate if you would allow it? Share with us in the comments how you're growing in this journey.
