Save the Children
I think that Isaiah 49 offers hope to parents who
struggle with wayward children. I’m not
sure I understand the context very well of this chapter, but taken simply at face
value we read of “children which thou shalt have” which will say, “The place is
too strait for me: give place to me that I may dwell.” To this the parent laments, “Who hath
begotten me these, seeing I have lost my children, and am desolate” (v. 20-21). To me this represents the cry of a faithful
parent whose child has found the path of discipleship too constricting and has
ventured off away from the covenants.
But the Lord’s response is one of hope and promise. First, He spoke of the Gentiles saying, “They
shall bring thy sons in their arms, and thy daughters shall be
carried upon their shoulders” (v. 22). I’m sure that I don’t understand the full
import of this famous description, but it does portray that God and others will
take care of those children when those mourning parents can do nothing else.
But that’s not where it
ends. After making the promise about the
Gentiles, the Lord asks the question, “Shall the prey be taken from the mighty?”
(v.24) Perhaps the prey here are those
youth who have strayed, and the mighty mentioned here may refer to the things and
people that have taken the youth away from living the principles of the
gospel. Parents may feel that there is
no way to get back their children who have fallen prey to the things of the
world. And yet the Lord answers His own
question this way: “Even the captives of the mighty shall be taken away, and
the prey of the terrible shall be delivered: for I will contend with
him that contendeth with thee, and I will save thy children” (v. 25). What a promise from the Lord! Those captors of our children that seem like
they could never give up their prey, so to speak, will eventually be forced by
the Lord to do just that. The Lord will
help fight our battles and He pledges to “save thy children” who are mired in
sin and the ways of the world. I’m not
sure exactly what is meant here, but I believe that this promise is for those
parents who are sealed through the temple and seeking diligently to keep the
covenants. The Lord will save our
children as parents do what they can to fully live the gospel.
It may be that the sense of this
promise in Isaiah is the same as that of the famous quote on wayward children
from the Prophet Joseph as quoted by Orson F. Whitney, “Though some of the
sheep may wander, the eye of the Shepherd is upon them, and sooner or later
they will feel the tentacles of Divine Providence reaching out after them and
drawing them back to the fold. Either in this life or the life to come, they
will return. They will have to pay their debt to justice; they will suffer for
their sins; and may tread a thorny path; but if it leads them at last, like the
penitent Prodigal, to a loving and forgiving father’s heart and home, the
painful experience will not have been in vain. Pray for your careless and
disobedient children; hold on to them with your faith. Hope on, trust on, till
you see the salvation of God” (see
here). Ultimately I’m sure we
understand very little of the overall plan of heaven for us and our family, but
we can hold on to these promises of the Prophet Joseph and Isaiah 49 and trust
that in His own way and time, if we do all we can to live righteously, then He
will save our children.
Comments
Post a Comment
Comments: