Recently I decided to start studying the book of Proverbs in depth with my children (ages 7 and almost 5). We’ve already read through the entire book once as a family for our family bible time. As per our typical practice during family bible time, my husband read a chapter out loud at a time, then we each took turns sharing which portions of the chapter stood out to us. This time however, I’m doing a much more in depth study with them as part of their bible studies. To be completely honest, I didn’t necessarily start out planning to do an in depth study. I went into it with the goal of refreshing our memory of the wisdom therein, in hopes that it would help with some attitudes/habits that I wanted to work on with the children. However, when we begun reading, the Holy Spirit truly led us better than I could have anticipated.

I am extremely blessed to have children who love discussing the Word of God and have been trained to share their thoughts on scripture. During our family bible time, my husband typically would ask them what stood out to them after the scripture reading, even while they’re as young as 3 years old.  Of course they start out not being able to articulate too much but as time goes on, and as they get older with a more improved diction, we’re amazed how much they have to share. So when they’re young, they start out by simply saying things like “it was good, or i liked it” or other such superficial comments. Ed and I then do our parts by drawing out of them more reasoning by asking them questions that help them think a bit more about it. I believe they’ve also learned by hearing how we think through scriptures as we share with them our thoughts and lessons.

And most importantly, I think the more children are filled with scripture and the truth of God’s word, the more they have to draw from to make connections. For example, having a bible study or bible discussion with my 7 year old is not too different from having a bible study with an adult. In fact, as one who has led and participated in bible studies in the past with adults, I can sincerely and unbiasedly say that I’ve had many experiences with my son so much deeper and amazing than some of what I had with the adult bible studies. And in addition to the wisdom that the Lord has kindly blessed him with, I attribute it to how well versed he is in the scriptures. He’s read so much of the Word that he just constantly has a plethora of connections to draw from. I never anticipated that studying scriptures with such tiny humans could be this much fun!  And as my 4 year old gets older and is talking and sharing more of the connections she’s making herself, it’s just really been a wonderful time all around. We literally spend hours sometimes just discussing the scriptures!

All that to say, although I didn’t initially intend to do such an in-depth study per se on Proverbs, it definitely took a different turn after the very first day. It was at that point that I decided that instead of simply reading it through again, we would take it more slowly this time to digest it more. Well, I decided to share some of the highlights of that first day of study with my friends on WhatsApp and was touched by the feedback I got. It then dawned on me that perhaps sharing little clips of our studies might prove beneficial to others and thus had intended to continue to do so on WhatsApp. Unfortunately, between my phone always being out of storage, as well as me not wanting video recording to take away from the atmosphere or interrupt, I had to figure out a new way of sharing. So my plan at first was to write out little recaps after the studies to later post it to my WhatsApp. But that morphed into a blog series to afford me the opportunity to share in more useful detail, killing two birds with one stone by also attempting (yet again!) to dust off this neglected blog.

I pray that if you are reading this series as a parent, that you find encouragement to feast on the Word of God with your littles. Do not underestimate what God can do with your time together, little as they may be, unqualified as you may feel. As I like to say, it is the wisdom of God that enlightens our hearts to understanding. Let the little children come to Him, and do not forbid them. I hope to be able to share not only a recap of our days but hopefully as the Lord leads, some tips on how to conduct similar studies with your own children.

If you read this series despite not having any children, I know it will still be a blessing to you. After all, this is the Word of God that is being discussed and thus applicable to all ages. I pray that you find it edifying.

Looking forward to sharing more soon, Lord-willing.

“But Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven.” -Matthew 10:14

“How can a young man keep his way pure? By guarding it according to your Word.”- Psalm 119:9

“Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.”- Psalm 119:105

In His Love & Light,

Ivy