February 5 Daily Devotional

Bible Reading

Deuteronomy 6:1-13:

¹Now these are the commandments, the statutes, and the judgments, which the LORD your God commanded to teach you, that ye might do them in the land whither ye go to possess it:
²That thou mightest fear the LORD thy God, to keep all his statutes and his commandments, which I command thee, thou, and thy son, and thy son's son, all the days of thy life; and that thy days may be prolonged.
³Hear therefore, O Israel, and observe to do it; that it may be well with thee, and that ye may increase mightily, as the LORD God of thy fathers hath promised thee, in the land that floweth with milk and honey.
⁴Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD:
⁵And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.
⁶And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart:
⁷And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.
⁸And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes.
⁹And thou shalt write them upon the posts of thy house, and on thy gates.
¹⁰And it shall be, when the LORD thy God shall have brought thee into the land which he sware unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give thee great and goodly cities, which thou buildedst not,
¹¹And houses full of all good things, which thou filledst not, and wells digged, which thou diggedst not, vineyards and olive trees, which thou plantedst not; when thou shalt have eaten and be full;
¹²Then beware lest thou forget the LORD, which brought thee forth out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage.
¹³Thou shalt fear the LORD thy God, and serve him, and shalt swear by his name.

Devotional

Parents are to teach their children the truths of the Word of God, and thus a knowledge of the truth is to be transplanted from generation to generation. Parents cannot teach the truth to their children unless they know the truth. The truth must be in their heart. God says through Moses: "Therefore shall ye lay up these my words in your heart and in your soul .... and set your hearts unto all the words which I testify among you this day, which ye shall command your children to observe to do, all the words of this law. For it is not a vain thing for you; because it is your life." The psalmist, speaking of the revealed truths of God, said: "We will not hide them from their children, showing to the generation to come the praises of the Lord, and his strength, and his wonderful works that he hath done. For he established a testimony in Jacob, and appointed a law in Israel, which he commanded our fathers that they should make them known to their children: that the generation to come might know them, even their children which shall be born; who shall arise and declare them to their children." Paul admonishes the fathers to bring up their children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. If fathers would do that diligently, how much better their children would fare here and hereafter!

Prayer

O, God our Father, have mercy on us and on our children. We must deplore before Thee that we have not instructed our children in the truths of Thy holy Word as diligently as we ought. We see children that ought to be God-fearing grow up and become criminals. O God, turn the hearts of the fathers to their children, and turn the hearts of parents and children to Thy holy Word. Give unto them the knowledge of salvation by the remission of their sins through Thy tender mercy. For Jesus' sake. Amen.

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Scripture in Devotional: Deut. 11:18; 32:46, 47; Ps. 78:4-6; Eph. 6:4.

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