Understanding Each Other (48)

Rev. P. Van Ruitenburg, Chilliwack, BC

Walking with God

A strong marriage and family bond is beautiful to share and also to observe in others. How wonderful it is when your children want to talk with you for hours and share their experiences after school. It is also beautiful when you, as husband and wife, feel good about each other and are interested in the small and large things of each other’s lives. Perhaps the family has become a small paradise on earth, but now a question: “Do we also have a restored relationship with God, or do we only have a bond with each other?” Noah “walked” with God and had a bond with heaven.

Time

How much time do we take to talk with each other or to listen to the stories of our children? One half hour per day? How long do we talk together before we go to bed? Time is an important factor for a harmonious family life, but the same applies also for the time spent in seeking God’s countenance. Not only family life suffers under the busyness of our stressful life; the seeking of God frequently suffers also.

Reading the Bible or a meditative book and, especially prayer, are important. Those who wish to serve God must use these resources, and those who may know of God’s grace in spite of the busyness of life and their old nature should gladly want to be close to Him. I think of the widower who, when I visited him, always had the Bible lying open before him. God’s Word was his desire and his life. The children were gone, his wife had died, but he still had God.

Now that may, of course, be different when we are young with a family and a job. Life is busier for one than for the other, but we must set our priorities. We have been given “talents”; I do not mean that we have abilities, but think of the talents from the well-known parable. I mean talents in the sense of privileges. We have received the “talent” of God’s Word and the “talent” of prayer and of precious time. These talents we need to use (Matthew 25:27). They are much more important than the gifts of knowledge and a healthy body. I am worried that many attempt to explain the talents from the parable too intellectually, as if the talent of being a good mother requires much education, or that you must study so hard that the seeking of God is pushed to the background. That is not the meaning of the parable!

Chewing the cud

In former days, I often heard at the end of the sermon that we at home must “chew the cud with the clean animals of the fields.” This meant that you must meditate on what you had heard, thinking about it piece by piece, slowly digesting and processing it. Mothers often do this when worrying about their children, whether they will accept and respect the instruction they have received in that day. They can toss about in bed and get new ideas when they awake in the morning. That is not unimportant. It belongs to love. Love considers and meditates, but how wonderful it is if the service of God may be a substantial part of our life! Do we make time for this? Have we received love in our hearts for the Lord and His service?

Speaking

How necessary it also is to speak with each other about less important things. It is good when we, as husband and wife, know everything about each other, also the small things of life. We need to share much and teach each other to speak about all the things that keep us busy. Some of us are not accustomed to doing that, and, as a result, our marriage is superficial. We have expressed our concern regarding this in an earlier chapter. We should also bring all our needs before the Lord; nothing is too small! It must become our habit to do this on a daily basis. For God, nothing is unimportant; we may even bring to Him the small things of life; we may ask Him for wisdom for everyday matters. That is also “walking” with God. The foremost question is whether we are reconciled with this God. Another question is whether we may walk with Him.

“Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:6&7).

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