Charles E. Wigg
Then in verses
eighteen to twenty one, they were to put the word of God everywhere, so that
wherever they looked, they would be reminded of the word of God, and that their
very life and prosperity depended upon their obedience to it. They were to write
the word of God on soft pieces of leather and tie it to their hands. That means
that everything that they did was to be done in accord with that word. They were
to wear verses from the Bible on frontlets between their eyes, this means that
every thought that passed through their minds was to be coloured or conditioned
by that word. How different our lives and also our testimony would be if it were
so with us! It was to be laid up in their hearts; they were to love that word.
It was to be their occupation, whether lying down or rising, and they were to
teach that word to their children.
Let us take
these exhortations to our hearts. There were to be no Sunday Schools amongst
those people, yet if they obeyed this instruction, their children would know
more about the Bible than any other children. These exhortations are just as
valid today, but sad to say they are very much neglected. I admire many of my
brethren from Kerala in particular, and India in general, because of the
emphasis given to the memorization of the words of Holy Scripture. I recall
meeting a small boy in Bahrain, (from a Keralite family), who had memorized a
hundred and forty eight verses from the Bible. It would be a life-long blessing
to him. Let us teach our own children the word of God, and we shall be forever
grateful for the effect that it will have on their lives. Send them to Sunday
school by all means, but don’t expect the Sunday school teacher to do in a half
hour lesson what we should be doing for the rest of the week. Sunday school was
never intended to be a means of educating the children of the saints in the
teaching of the Bible. From the very inception it was to be a means of outreach.
The person who commenced it used it as a means of gathering waifs off the street
on Sunday afternoon, and of teaching them the Bible, of sharing the simple
Gospel of Christ. It has been the most effective means of outreach that the
brethren Assemblies have had over the past hundred years. I cannot speak too
highly of it, but nevertheless never let us use it as a means of teaching our
children the Bible, which according to our passage, we are to do at
home.
Here is the
secret of the enjoyment of the blessing of God, which is a life of obedience to
His word. God intends that the days of His children may be many, and that the
days of their children might be as the days of heaven, which is above the
earth. Let us not expect to enjoy the heavenly blessings if we are walking
in a path of disobedience to God’s word.
Verses
twenty-two and twenty-three tell us that the secret of success is to do four
things. 1). To diligently keep God’s commandment; 2) To Love Jehovah our God;
3), To walk in His ways; and 4), to cleave to Him. If they were to fulfill
these requirements, then Jehovah would surely drive out the nations who were
greater and mightier than them, and give them the possession and the enjoyment
of the whole land. While our inheritance is not literal and physical but
Spiritual, yet God would have you and I to enjoy that inheritance day after
day.
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