We have found it particularly difficult to help our children with sins of lying, deceit, or trickery since it is often hard to determine the facts and so much depends on motives and attitudes that are not easily discerned. Today the Lord reminded me of one of the primary reasons for obedience in all areas but particularly in our hidden thoughts and acts of secrecy that we must keep before our children continually. We do not want them to tell the truth and be honest simply to please us, but to please the Lord. Children do not intuitively understand that the Lord sees every action and thought, but God’s word makes this clear in Psalm 139:
O Lord, You have searched me and known me.
You know when I sit down and when I rise up;
You understand my thought from afar.
You scrutinize my path and my lying down,
And are intimately acquainted with all my ways.
Even before there is a word on my tounge,
Behold, O Lord, You know it all.
May the Lord be at work in our children to help them remember that they can never hide their sin from God or “get away” with anything before Him, and that their obedience is to please Him and not just us.
