That it may be well with you - 5th Command

  I have both heard and believed that the child will learn how to deal with God's authority primarily through how they learn to deal with their parental authorities.  Still, I was somewhat surprised to find a very tight connection between the two as I read in Deuteronomy 5 this week.  Verse 16 says:

“‘Honor your father and your mother, as the Lord your God commanded you, that your days may be long, and that it may go well with you in the land that the Lord your God is giving you.

While verses 29 and 33 say:

Oh that they had such a mind as this always, to fear me and to keep all my commandments, that it might go well with them and with their descendants forever! ... You shall walk in all the way that the Lord your God has commanded you, that you may live, and that it may go well with you, and that you may live long in the land that you shall possess.

This pattern of "well-being and long life in the land that is to be a possession" following obedience to God's commands continues throughout Deuteronomy in 6:2-3, 18; 11:8-9; and 32:46-47. Opposites are found in 4:26 and 30:17-20.

Given these commands and this pattern, it matters a great deal when children disrespect their parents and when parents allow such dishonor to go unchecked.  How will a child learn to fear and obey God if they never have been taught to honor and obey their parents with that healthy belief that one who knows better than them and cares for them is guiding them and must be obeyed?  The One who knows best of all and has pure love for His child ought to be held in an awe which understands His greatness and goodness and yields to every command willingly.  May a deep reverence for God fill us, leading us in glad obedience to the King: whether or not we learned this first from our parents. May God graciously teach us the fear of the Lord which is wisdom and the love of God which brings obedience.  Then it will be well with us and we will live long in the Land which our Lord God will give us.