A Forgotten Command of God

In the book of Deuteronomy, Moses gave a short and concise description of what happened to the Israelites in the desert. He was speaking to the people of Israel just after they had come out of Egypt and while they were in the valley east of the river Jordan, in the desert, on the first day of the eleventh month in the fortieth year. He gave them the law just as the Lord had commanded him. The Lord cautioned his people to keep and obey his laws, to abstain from idolatry and to love him. He promised them several blessings in return for their obedience,  but also set forth a punishment and a curse if they abandoned his laws and were disobedient. His commandments were aimed at leading, protecting and ultimately blessing his people. His commands have not changed, therefore we too have to love the Lord always,       and obey all his laws always, not only on Sundays or when we feel like it. He expects obedience from us. 'Therefore you shall  love the LORD your God, and keep His charge, His statutes,  His judgments,  and His commandments always’ (Deut. 11:1).

In Deuteronomy 11:18-21, the Lord God gives a specific command to his people. The command is given and addressed directly to the head of a family. (Usually the father represents his family as head; however, if the father is no longer alive, the mother is considered to be head of that family.) The command affects the head of the family, his family members and especially his children and offspring. However, in our generation our homes and in the spiritual education of our children. When we obey his commands and live in a relationship with him, the Lord Jesus becomes visible in our daily lives.

A HOLY LIFE

As a young adult she spent hours each day reading the Bible and praying. She believed the words of Robert Murray McCheyne: ‘It  is the look that saves, but it is the gaze that sanctifies.’ Helen gazed with rapture into the face of      her Lord. Her life made such       an impact on others that hundreds attended her funeral. Helen had been encouraged by the example of her parents. The Lord Jesus was the pivot around which the whole existence of the family revolved. James Stewart, a family friend and her biographer, was touched and challenged by her life and example. In his book She Was Only 22,he relates that he always saw three worn Bibles on the table of the living room when he visited them. Helen Ewan’s parents were poor, but left a rich legacy: Although she died at the age of 22, all Scotland wept. I know hundreds of missionaries all over the world wept and mourned for her. She had mastered the Russian language and was expecting to labor for God in Europe. She had no outstanding personality; she never wrote a book, nor composed a hymn; she was not a preacher and never traveled more than 200 miles from her home. But when she died people wrote about her life story.  Although she died so early in life she had led a great multitude to Jesus Christ.

She arose early each morning at about 5 o’clock to study God’s word, to commune, and to pray. She prayed for hundreds of missionaries. Her mother showed me her diary and there were at least 300 different missionaries for whom she was praying. It showed how God had burdened that young heart with a ministry of prayer. She had the date when she started to pray for a request and then the date when God answered her petition. She had a dynamic prayer life that moved God and moved man.

I was talking one day with two university professors in London City.  We were talking about dynamic Christianity, when one of them suddenly said, 'Brother Stewart, I want to tell you a story.’ And then he told me that in Glasgow University there was a remarkable young lady, who, wherever she went on that campus, she left the fragrance of Christ behind her.  For example, if the students were telling dirty stories, someone would say, 'Sh-h-h, Helen is coming quiet.' And then she passed by and unconsciously left the power behind her.

The University professor told me how in their prayer meetings they could always tell when this young lady entered the room. She did not even have to take part in prayer. The moment she entered the room, the whole of the meeting was changed by the mighty power of God. 'And,' said that professor, 'she led many of those students to Jesus Christ.' She was the greatest power for God that he ever knew in his life.

I said, ‘Sir, that could only be one person. That was Helen Ewan.’ He said that was the name of the young lady. I have been out on the streets of Glasgow at midnight, in the awful cold winter night giving out tracts and doing personal soul winning, and as I have been going home, I have seen Helen Ewan with her arms around a poor, drunken harlot, and telling her of Jesus and His love.

Friends, she led a great multitude to Jesus Christ. And when I went years later to the place of her burial, one of the grave diggers said, 'Preacher, I'll never forget when that young lady was buried here. When I was burying that body, I felt the presence of God all over this place.' One night we were all having a social evening together, young people rejoicing in the Lord, and having a good time, when my wife said, ‘Is that Helen Ewan’s photograph on the mantle-piece?’ Suddenly there was a dead silence and she said, ‘Jim, have I said anything wrong?’ All the laughter ceased and one by one, without a word, we dropped down on our knees and began to pray!

Think of it, years after she had gone home to heaven, her name was so magical and so powerful. Oh, friends, I believe that this spiritual life is for every child of God.

The life of Helen Ewan, and the effect it had, was the blessed fruit of the spiritual and godly family where the Lord Jesus took the place of honour and where family worship a hidden treasure of God's blessings was practised.

For many years, we as parents have left the spiritual education of our children in the hands of the authorities in schools and in the church. But our school curricula have changed and Bible teaching is no longer part of them. In addition, membership of churches is dwindling and some churches have discontinued child and youth programmes. It was never the intention of God that the school and church should educate our children spiritually. God’s command was given to the parents, but we as parents have disobeyed the command and the responsibility. This disobedience was through convenience, but we are now beginning to see its effect in the lives of our children and families lives that don't reflect the Lord Jesus. Sadly, family worship, the spiritual education of our children, has become a forgotten command of the Lord God.