Daily
Devotional

When my children were growing up, each night my wife and I would ask the same question: “Who do you want to pray with tonight, kids?” The answer was invariably “Mamma!” We did not know why, but they never asked for Daddy, always Mamma. Years later, we discovered the reason for their bias. Apparently, their mother always prayed with them, “Thy love guard me through the night, and wake me in the morning light.” And when Mother was not available, I would pray with them, “If I should die before I wake, I pray the Lord my soul to take.” They definitely wanted to focus on living, not dying!

The background for that well-known prayer is probably from the Victorian era, when childhood sickness and death were commonplace. Plagues of smallpox and diphtheria swept whole communities, and parents expected at least some of their children to die young. Thus, while we might think it upsetting to teach a child to pray as though he might die before the sun rises again, those parents knew it was a real possibility and they wanted to be sure the Lord would take their children’s souls to Heaven.

In the modern United States, influenza and pneumonia account for less than two percent of deaths in children, and smallpox and diphtheria are not even on the charts. But even with health threats being greatly reduced from what they once were, we still need to encourage the little ones we care for to make sure their souls are ready for Heaven. We must be teaching them the stories and lessons from the Bible and living a godly example before them so that they also know how to live pleasing to God. They may be too young to comprehend God’s plan of salvation, but perhaps not too young to receive it.

Our focus verse is an admonition for children to obey the wise teachings of the Bible, yet they are not likely to pick up the Word and study it themselves. They will need some assistance. With God’s help, we can be the ones to encourage them to seek the Lord and follow His ways. We all look forward to living, and properly so, but still the question must be answered: If we die before we wake, will the Lord our souls take?