Arrows In The Hands Of A Warrior Or Ticking Time Bombs?

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During the morning hours of December 14 the nation was shocked by the news that immediately flooded mass media. Adam Lanza, a 20 year old from Connecticut,  had blasted his way into Newtown’s Sandy Hook Elementary with with a high powered rifle and opened fire on kindergarten students, the principal, counselor and teachers taking 26 precious lives.

The nation grieved as pictures of the innocent five year olds who had been brutally gunned down appeared on t.v., the internet and populated FaceBook walls. That day had come to a cataclysmic standstill as millions of people asked one question…WHY?  We are tempted to escape the reality and nature of our world by finding fault in a diversity of ailments that plague our world today. It is easier and perhaps less grievous to put the blame on music, T.V., social media or even violent video games.

But let us stop and think for a moment…wasn’t this young man born like any other child? What went wrong in his life that turned him into a ticking time bomb? At what point in his life did he concoct a malicious strategy that would shake an entire nation?

David pens Psalm 127:4 saying that “children are like arrows in the hands of a warrior”. Warriors are very particular about their weapons and arrows must be fabricated with utmost care and precision. Locating the right piece of wood; hickory, ash or cedar, is pivotal and carving a shaft from it making sure it is straight, strong and free of any imperfections is crucial. A warrior then seeks the most resilient flint rock and meticulously carves an arrowhead which is then hafted (attached) to the shaft. Once the process has been completed the warrior positions it on the bow, fix his eyes on the target, pulls the arrow back and shoots it into destiny. A properly fashioned arrow in the hands of a skilled warrior will hit the mark every time.

God’s Word tells us in proverbs 22:6 “Point your kids in the right direction—when they’re old they won’t be lost”(The Message). The million dollar question is… and how do you do that? How do I position my child that he/she may hit the mark (God’s purpose and plan for his/her life)? The answer is found in Deuteronomy 6:6-7 “These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up”.

Just as the warrior thoroughly examines his arrows, we must search our hearts as parents and make sure that we are right with the Lord so that we may set an example not only by preaching to our children but by living godly lives that imitate the very life of Jesus Christ. If we fail to do so the author of Proverbs states in chapter 29 verse 15 that “undisciplined children will embarrass the parents”.

Your children NEED a parent not a dad or a mom who act like teenagers wanting to earn their children’s approval by being cool, tolerant of the intolerable, looking for ways to make them “happy”. Your children need a godly father and mother to help guide them through life’s vicissitudes, someone they can trust and look up to for wise counsel. A parent that will lead the way and position them for greatness shooting them like arrows into the destiny that God has set for their lives… a parent that will allow the Holy Spirit to guide them so that they may mold and shape their children into  mark hitting arrows and not explosive ticking time bombs.

So at this point you are asking yourself…Are you saying it’s my responsibility and not the school’s nor the church’s to train up my child? Are you saying that it’s not the video games, or the music they listen to or the movies they watch the shapes and molds them into what they will later become…? Precisely!

Love in Christ,

Milton