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              “Because I will publish the name of the Lord:
                 ascribe ye greatness unto our God.” Deut 32:3

MEDITATION ON GIVING OUR CHILDREN “STONES”

                                 Or what man is there of you, whom if his son ask bread, will he give him a stone? (Mt 7:9)

Each and every divinely inspired word of Scripture, found in the original language texts, emanated from God Himself and therefore mandates our closest scrutiny. Fallible man can not begin to understand the deep things of God but he can “search out a matter” (Pr 25:2) and “study to shew thyself approved”. (2 Tim 2:15).

Initial reading of the above verse (Mt 7:9) does not raise difficult theological issues or present searching questions because the father-son relationship is easily understandable. The only question here is, “Is there a reason for the word, “stone”? Why not “toy” or “shoe” or “book”? We may not even consider the question until we read with discernment
            Luke 4:3:
            And the devil said unto him, If thou be the Son of God, command this stone that it be made bread.
   
Again we see bread and stone linked together with implied contrast between them.

The word, bread, is one of the most profound words in the Bible. Not only is our Lord and Saviour inexorably linked to this word, even calling Himself the bread of life (Jn 6:35) and the living bread which came down from heaven (Jn 6:51), but the Word of God (i.e. the written word) is also depicted as “bread.”  Just as food is necessary for life, so is the Word of God. (Mt 4:4, Lk 4:4)

For these reasons, when we read the Words in the book of Amos prophesying the future, it is especially needful to take heed of Amos 8:11-12.

Behold, the days come, saith the Lord God, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord: 12And they shall wander from sea to sea, and from the north even to the east, they shall run to and fro to seek the word of the Lord, and shall not find it.

Are we living this day in a time of famine? Are we hearing the precise, preserved, plenary (i.e. complete) Words of the Lord? Amos tells us, through the Holy Spirit, that a time will come when even those who seek the Word of the Lord, shall not find it. Are those days upon us? Those of us who believe that the only faithful English translation of God’s precise Words is the KJB, relate from experience the difficulties involved in the search for those precious Words. Greeting cards, artwork, clothing, trinkets, and other merchandise invariably proclaim the words from a corrupt translation or even a paraphrase of sacred Scripture. Christian bookstores amass volumes of every conceivable “Bible” and no one questions, “How can all these different versions be what God actually spoke?” Children’s literature is also infected, and the lie, that children cannot understand the Word of God (the KJB), continues.

Is God fulfilling the prophecy of the prophet Amos? Are our children at risk because we carelessly give them a lifeless object instead of the living Word? The hard question is:

                                 When our children ask for bread, do we give them a stone?