Do you have vivid memories of your teenage years?
For some of us, those times could be glorious and fun or painful and forgettable. Either way, you most likely remember something.
Science backs this up. According to a 2005 study, the memories we make during our adolescent years are most formative in shaping who we are and what we become. Our brains move from “fact-discovering” to “identity-formation.” Our experiences and memories from that era play the largest part in forming who we are in life.
God didn’t author that study, but He undoubtedly recognized that fact.
The audience that Moses addresses in Deuteronomy is not the same one that left Egypt. Per Numbers 14, everyone over the age of twenty at the time of the Exodus perished in the wilderness. Only those under twenty (plus Joshua and Caleb) survived to occupy Canaan.
It’s curious, then, that Moses talks to them in Deuteronomy 4 as if they were the ones who left Egypt. He says, “Remember the day you stood before the Lord at Horeb…” as if they were the ones that were actually there. Technically, most of them were, but they would’ve been kids at that point.
But God understood that the power of memory—especially at that point in life—creates a character and a foundation that influences who we become later.
A ten-year-old who stands at the base of Sinai and watches God descend in a cloud of smoke is far more impressionable than a fifty-year-old who spent most of their life as a slave in Egypt. They have more life experience to compare it to; they’re more jaded, more “wise.” They’ve seen other amazing things before.
Moses’ description of the scene from Exodus 19 is vivid: He mentions “darkness, cloud, and thick gloom.” He talks about God speaking to them “from the fire”—not just casual conversation, but the giving of the Law.
In their minds then, God not only speaks with power but with authority. That demonstration of His might was coupled with His covenant. Disobey the covenant, and you deal with the mighty power of God.
That’s why Moses makes this connection in Deuteronomy 4. If they could remember that scene, they would remember the Law, and, as a result, think twice before disobeying.
Of course, their memory slipped over time. Judges 3:7 speaks of a time when people “forgot” God and served Baal. Psalm 106:13 says the people “forgot His works,” which led them to “not wait for His counsel.”
This lesson should reinforce the importance of training our children when they’re young. I’ve met lots of people who will drop church services for the slightest inconvenience: sports, travel, mild cough, and a late Saturday night.
Yet that is when our kids need God the most. Even if your teenagers are staring at the ceiling, or your toddlers are sleeping through services, bring them to church!
I’m a minister and a father, so I know exactly how hard it can be to both keep kids quiet and preach through screaming children. I know how difficult it is to get kids up on Sunday morning to come to Bible class on time.
But honestly, there’s nothing I love more. Even when a kid is wailing through the sermon, their voice lets me know they’re exactly where they need to be. They’re learning things—even if they don’t realize it—that will shape their spiritual future. That’s literally the point of my job. I don’t mind the screaming one bit.
Bring your kids. Bring them to every service. Bring them when they don’t want to come. Bring them when it’s hard. Bring them when you have “better things to do.” Bring them if they’re asleep. Just bring them.
You’ll thank yourself later.