Do you want your grandchildren to learn to flourish through the trials they face? We can show our grandkids how to trust God and flourish when life is challenging.
I’ve been thinking more about flourishing when life is hard.
Because these aren’t days for flourishing. We’re coming out of a pandemic-surging, rioting, twisted election year. You couldn’t even find a kid’s bicycle at Target last year. What kind of crazy world is that?
Surprisingly, when I ask people how they are, many are truly good. Joyful. They have stories to tell of God’s goodness, their needs met, and being content through the crisis.
Wait, what?
It looks to me like these people I’ve asked are flourishing though the world seems to be an anti-flourishing place. How are they doing that?
I found a glimpse of an answer in my Bible in Jeremiah.
How to Show your Grandkids to Trust God in a Trial
1. We can do the right things even though life is hard.
The story of Ebed-Melech in Jeremiah 36-39 is the story of a man who did the right thing when life was impossibly hard.
They were in a crisis in Jerusalem. Destruction was imminent. It was way worse than you can’t get a bike at Target; they were looking at annihilation of their city, their families, and their way of life.
Jeremiah preached the way of escape: repent and turn from your evil ways and follow God. Then God would relent and withhold judgment and destruction.But they wouldn’t do it. Instead the king burned the scroll of Jeremiah’s prophesy, and his guard threw Jeremiah in a muddy cistern.
Nationwide, things were looking bad for Israel. We can relate to that.
But one man did what was right. Ebed-melech asked the king for permission, then he gathered his men, and kindly rescued Jeremiah from muddy, isolated starvation.
That’s the last we hear of Ebed-melech for awhile.
2. We know that God cares and sees us when we do the right things.
The story of Ebed-Melech is a story of hope through crisis.
Years after the rescue of Jeremiah, as King Nebuchadnezzar marched into Jerusalem, killing or enslaving the people for seventy years of captivity, God showed kindness to Ebed-melech and promised him life.
Now the word of the Lord had come to Jeremiah when he was confined in the guard’s courtyard: 16 “Go tell Ebed-melech the Cushite, ‘This is what the Lord of Armies, the God of Israel, says: I am about to fulfill my words for disaster and not for good against this city. They will take place before your eyes on that day. 17 But I will rescue you on that day—this is the Lord’s declaration—and you will not be handed over to the men you dread. 18 Indeed, I will certainly deliver you so that you do not fall by the sword. Because you have trusted in me, you will retain your life like the spoils of war. This is the Lord’s declaration.’” ~ Jeremiah 39:15-18
What’s the lesson for us from this story?
God sees when you do the right thing in the midst of so much trial. He sees your heart for him and he cares about you (1 Peter 5:7).
We can flourish through this season of craziness because God sees us and has his hand on our lives. We can trust him.
3. We can teach this lesson of trusting God in a trial to our grandchildren.
Trusting God when life is hard is a message to share with our kids and grandkids.
You can start by telling your grandchildren the story of Ebed-Melech in Jeremiah 36-39. Like Ebed-Melech, you’ll tell them, we can do the right thing, walk in faith, and flourish through this crisis.
We can give hope to our families. We can show the younger generations how to do the right thing when life is hard and trust God to see you through.
To recap how to show your grandkids how to trust God in a trial:
- We can do the right things even though life is hard.
- We know that God sees us and cares when we do the right things through the trial.
- We can teach this lesson of trusting God in a trial to our grandchildren.
What’s Next?
Read the story for yourself in Jeremiah 36:19-26, 38:1-13, 39:11-18.
Ask God how you can show kindness, sprinkle in a word, and build hope and trust in your family this week.
