The influence our family has on our self-worth. For good or bad, we inherit our initial perception of our relationship with God from those who should love us the most: our parents. If your parents cherished you and taught you about God, you will likely have a positive, healthy self-image. But if your parents constantly berated you for being incompetent, you may picture yourself being unworthy of God.
This is what God said to parents, “You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength. “And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart. You shall TEACH THEM DILIGENTLY (thoroughly) TO YOUR CHILDREN, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up…You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.” (Deut. 6:5-9)
What happens if we do not teach our children? Let’s look at Moses, we know he had Jewish parents his mother Yochebed took her baby and placed him in a waterproof basket and sent him down the Nile (because Pharaoh ordered all Jewish babies be drowned SHE WANTED TO SAVE HER BABY). Pharaoh’s daughter, hearing the baby cry, rescued him. She named him “Moses,” meaning “drawn from the water.” Moses was raised in the Pharaoh’s palace and taught about the pagan god’s of the Egyptians, NOT ABOUT THE LORD GOD.
All that Moses did, including refusing to be God’s spokesman, he did without really knowing who God was. After a lot of tension from the Israelites and Moses, between them and God, Moses said to God, “Please, show me Your glory…And the LORD passed before Moses and proclaimed, “The LORD, the LORD GOD (Yahweh Elohim), merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abounding in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin…” (Exodus 33:18, 34:6-7)
When Moses finally had a revelation of who God really was, “Moses made haste and BOWED his head toward the earth, and WORSHIPED.” (Exodus 34:8) This time when Moses came down the mountain, “…he did not know that the skin of his face shone…” (Exodus 34:29)
FROM FINALLY KNOWING GOD AND BEING IN HIS PRESENCE!!!
-Bill Stockham