The world is a noisy place: How do we help our kids hear God’s voice the loudest?
by Lucy Rycroft, The Hope Filled Family
I was packing up some orders of my children’s books about women of the Bible, when my 9-year-old mused aloud:
“I guess Deborah and Jael were the only ones who weren’t royalty.”
For context, at that point, I’d written books on Deborah, Jael, Abigail, Rahab and Esther.
I smiled as I set about correcting him gently. “Well only Esther was a queen. The others weren’t…well, I guess Abigail married David, who became King, so she became Queen Abigail. But Rahab wasn’t a…although she did end up marrying Prince Salmon, so…actually…yes, you’re spot on!”
My son’s comment was not the random statement I’d initially taken it to be. He’d clearly thought through what he knew of the stories of each of these biblical women, put two and two together, and made four.
Why am I telling you this? Is it important that our children know which biblical character was part of a royal dynasty? Am I campaigning for us all to train our children in biblical family trees?
No - and yes. The details aren’t important - except they are.
I’m not fussed whether my children can tell you which biblical women married into royalty. But I am fussed whether my children can discern God’s voice in this noisy world, where anyone can have a platform and anyone can try to persuade my children to believe their particular philosophy.
What’s the connection?
Our kids are growing up with access to many more opinions and mindsets than any generation before them.
As a teen in the 90s, my entertainment stopped at 10.00pm, when the good TV finished, and my out-of-school contact with friends was limited to weekend trips out and (admittedly long) phone conversations in the evening. I knew what was going on in the world through the news and family conversations around the dinner table - but my parents’ voices were the ones I heard most clearly, and (being Christians) they helped me to process the world through the lens of the Bible.
Today, my kids are accessing so many more influences. Anyone with a bit of marketing nouse can become highly influential - without anyone filtering their views or how they’re shaping the minds of teenagers and young adults. Movements can quickly gain momentum and followers - even if there is no concrete evidence to support their beliefs.
The recent hit Netflix show Adolescence explored the extremes of how this might go very wrong for a young teen, with consequences which would affect them for the rest of their life. Is it realistic? Probably not. But the message is clear: our kids and teens need help in processing the words and images they’re subjected to every day, as well as clear guidance in how to discern truth from lies, facts from opinions.
This is where the Bible comes in.
God is love, and God is truth, and we know the Bible tells us only what is true about him, us and the world.
The devil, on the other hand, has been lying to humans ever since the world began, and he’ll do it through any means necessary, including the well-meaning influencers who pop up on our social media apps. The apostle John could have been speaking about this culture when he wrote, “They are from the world and therefore speak from the viewpoint of the world, and the world listens to them.” (1 John 4:5).
If we want our children to discern God’s voice, to powerfully walk in truth and wholeness, we need to start with the Bible. Not the Bible which only teaches the ‘nice’ stories. Not just the comforting memes or the easy memory verses. The whole Bible - including the tricky stories, the hard-to-understand teachings, the Bible in all its glorious, messy, wonderful, heart-wrenching truth.
How do we do this? Here are a few suggestions - although I’m sure you can think of more.
● Give your kids access to an engaging, age-appropriate Bible at every stage. (Grab my free Ultimate Bible Guide here.)
● When choosing abridged children’s Bibles, try to choose one with a good mix of stories - well-known and lesser known - as well as a good spread of stories from different sections of the Bible.
● Read an unabridged Bible with your children as soon as they’re able to listen and understand. Use a clear translation (Good News or ICB are great).
● Depth is better than length. Read just a verse or two and chat about it. Go through whole books/passages rather than picking verses at random. Start with a gospel.
● Use age-appropriate devotionals like my Summer Family Devo, or my devotionals on Acts for 8-11s and 11-14s.
● Balance your child’s Bible library with a good mix of stories - not just the usual ones. My Mighty Girl Mighty God series is a great place to start as it tells the lesser-known stories of the women in the Bible - the titles now include Hagar and Ruth, in addition to those mentioned at the start of this blog.
The result?
My son was able to make his observation because he’s been exposed to parts of the Bible we don’t traditionally share with kids. He knows the stories of the women of the Bible much better than I did at his age.
As we expose our kids to the whole, complete, full Bible, they will learn to grapple with it, understand it and apply it, giving them a strong foundation of truth. As the world’s voices clamour for their attention, the voice they will be able to discern the loudest will be that speaking love, salvation and hope for all who believe.
Lucy Rycroft
is founder of The Hope-Filled Family and author of the Mighty Girl Mighty God series, the Busy Family Devotional and Redeeming Advent. She lives in York with her husband, kids and crazy cockerpoo.