All Articles For When Thou Sittest in Thine House

Long before John Deere or Case International Harvester, there was a tribulum. A tribulum was an ancient, wooden threshing board studded with sharp flint. On the threshing floor the tribulum was dragged around and around over the harvested grain. With repeated strikes and beatings the kernel and chaff would separate, leaving the precious grain ready to gather and store. Related to the word “tribulum” is the Latin verb tribulare, meaning “to oppress” or “afflict.” From these words we get our word “tribulation.” Jesus said, “In the world ye shall have tribulation…” (John 16:33). We think of oppression, affliction, beating, and...

Previous article in this series: December 1, 2020, p. 113. I am not a trained professional who has received a degree in child psychology or family practice. I do not have a Ph.D. in sociology or family counseling. Neither is it my life’s occupation to diagnose childhood disorders or strange behavior patterns in children. I am not saying that these practices are wrong or unnecessary. I am merely saying these are not my credentials. My credentials are more of a practical nature. I was raised in a covenant home with believing parents, my father being a strict disciplinarian and my...

Previous article in this series: January 1, 2021, p. 156. In our previous consideration of parents being tools in the hand of the Master Builder, we looked at the knowledge we have and the comfort we derive from knowing that it is God who builds our covenant homes and families. He establishes His covenant with His chosen people and peculiar treasure, and is pleased to continue His covenant in the line of continued generations with believers and their seed. We also acknowledged and were humbled by the fact that the divine Builder is pleased to employ the use of parental...

It does not take long for a new mother to notice her work is never done. There are so many needs. There are diapers to change, feeding and burping the baby, giving baths, cooking, cleaning, washing laundry, ironing, fixing things that break, running errands, potty training, wiping noses…whatever the need is, and then some, as more children are added to the family. Perhaps a young mother’s most shocking realization is that the bulk of her work is routine and unglamorous. How do you, dear Christian mother, like doing those unpaid, lowly, menial tasks to meet the needs of others? Though...

How is God chastening us during this time of the plague of COVID-19? These are days of great spiritual lessons that we must soberly consider. It is amazing that this plague is worldwide. God is punishing the world for its ungodliness. What is the great sin of this world for which it is being so severely judged? The trouble with much of modern- day Christianity is that it does not even know what sin is any more. What is the greatest evil of this world? It is its ungodliness. This alone makes this world worthy of the just and holy...

Thy wife shall be as a fruitful vine by the sides of thine house; thy children like olive plants round about thy table. Psalm 128:3 As Reformed, and as Protestant Reformed believers, we know how important the institution of the family is to the life of the church. And we know that it is God Himself who is the Builder of such an institution. From the beginning of time, God established His covenant with His chosen people and peculiar treasure. And He is pleased to continue His covenant in the line of continued generations with believers and their seed. His...

In the first article on this subject we answered the question, who are our children? We learned two important truths that are vital to the proper spiritual nurturing of our children. First, we must instruct our children as children of the promise of God’s covenant. God promises believing parents that He will save a people unto Himself in the line of those generations born into the church. This promise does not include every child born into the church. Rather, that promise is spoken organically to the church as a body. But this does not deter believing parents from teaching their...

Childcare: volumes have been written on this subject. Many of them are produced by secular (unbelieving) sociologists and child psychologists. Many others are generated by “Christians” who write with a religious flare but ignore the truth of Scripture while imbibing the unbelieving mindset of this world. Magazines are displayed on the table in doctors’ offices and immediately sent to the home free of charge as soon as a publisher finds out from the hospital that a mother has had her baby. Books, magazines, blogs, and videos on parenting are available everywhere. They are downloaded, read, or listened to with the...

We are living in fearful and unprecedented times. Awful events are taking place in the world in which we live. The things that are happening are like none most of us have ever experienced before. God’s judgments are being poured out on an ungodly world. What do these events mean? These things are truly a serious trial for all of us. COVID-19 is causing great misery and trials for us all. Worldwide deaths from this plague have numbered in the hundreds of thousands. The worldwide impact of these events is shocking. There is great sorrow and an­guish in our nation...

The baptism of our covenant children teaches us that they are from birth members of Christ’s church. As our children grow up in our covenant homes, we must teach them the reality and blessing of this truth. The central calling of the church is performed when she gathers every Lord’s day in the sanctuary of God for worship. In our homes we must instruct our children concerning this by our word and example, and even by our spiritual attitudes. Our children must grow up hav­ing a pattern of true godliness that orders the priority and the practice of the most...