What Does God Say About Parenting?

“And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart: And 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.”

Deuteronomy 6:6-7

Notice the order. In thine heart comes before teach them diligently. You cannot pass on what you do not carry. And notice the method: not lectures, but life. Sitting, walking, lying down, rising up. Faith transfers in the ordinary minutes, which means the school run counts.

“Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.”

Proverbs 22:6

The way he should go is singular. This child's way. Training is not stamping out a copy of yourself. It is studying the particular child God gave you and aiming that child well. And the payoff clause says when he is old, which is a long time from now. Plant anyway. The harvest was always going to be slow.

“Lo, children are an heritage of the LORD: and the fruit of the womb is his reward.”

Psalm 127:3

Heritage and reward are inheritance words. Children are handed down from the LORD, not manufactured by you and not owned by you. That reframes the hard days. You are a steward of someone God treasures, not the author of their whole story. The weight of authorship was never yours to carry.

“And, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.”

Ephesians 6:4

Paul gives parents a command about their own behavior before anyone else's: provoke not. Constant criticism, moving goalposts, anger that fills a room, these grind a child down to wrath or to despair. Nurture and admonition are slower tools. They require a parent with more self-control than the child. That is the assignment.

“Like as a father pitieth his children, so the LORD pitieth them that fear him.”

Psalm 103:13

God chose parenting as the picture of how He treats you. Pity here means tender mercy toward someone small who cannot help being small. He remembers your frame the way you remember your toddler is a toddler. Parent from inside that mercy and you will have more of it to give. You cannot pour out what you have never received.

“He shall feed his flock like a shepherd: he shall gather the lambs with his arm, and carry them in his bosom, and shall gently lead those that are with young.”

Isaiah 40:11

Look at how God handles those that are with young: gently. He does not drive the flock at the pace of the strongest sheep. If God slows down for parents of little ones, you can stop punishing yourself for being slower than you used to be. Gentleness toward your kids starts with accepting His toward you.

“If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.”

James 1:5

This verse belongs on the refrigerator of every home with children in it. You will run out of wisdom, probably this week. James says ask, and then adds the detail every anxious parent needs: God gives liberally and upbraideth not. He will not scold you for not knowing. He will simply give.