Rachael Nikole, Magen Elizabeth, and Matthew Landry Jones
Do you ever wonder if you are a good parent? When my kids were little, so often I questioned my parenting skills. I truly recognized my shortcomings. But as I have mentioned before, God’s grace and mercy filled in exceedingly, abundantly more that I could ever think or imagine. And now I look at the first family, especially the first mom, the mother of all living things, Eve. One son turned out to be a murderer because he harbored evil and jealousy in his heart. I wonder could Eve recognize this in her firstborn? I cannot even imagine her heartbreak on that day. In a single moment, with a single act of violence, Eve lost two sons.
God is a redemptive God. He is a caring God. He is a giving God. What was once lost, He makes new.
“Adam had sexual relations with his wife again, and she gave birth to another son. She named he Seth, for she said, “God has granted me another son in place of Abel, whom Cain killed.” Genesis 4:25 NLT
The name Seth means appointed, anointed, and compensation. Eve gave her baby the name Seth because she considered him to be a replacement for her murdered son. Naming a baby was an honored tradition in biblical times, even at the very beginning. The inward intuition of Eve knew that the name of a person represented that persons character. It is my belief that Eve knew to do this because God had taught her about His many names; that to call Him, LORD GOD, or ELOHIM, or YAHWEH was to recognize Him by that character trait of His. Genesis 4:1, after the birth of Cain, Eve says, “I have gotten a man from the LORD.” She used the name YAHWEH which mean self-existent One, or as the one I love “I AM THAT I AM.” What a statement and what a name. Eve used this name because that is the character trait she recognized of the LORD’S. Genesis 4:25 Eve says, “God has granted me another son…” In this verse she is using God’s name “Elohim.” She recognized God as the God above all gods. My point being: Our Creator God has many personality traits. He is God Almighty. He is God our Healer. He is God our Fortress. He is God who sees me. He is Jesus the Messiah. He is Son of God. He is Son of Man. He is King of Kings and He is Lord of Lords. We call him by whatever character trait we know Him as.
Adam and Eve may have had many parental failings as we all do, but they did do one thing right. They did the most important thing right. They taught their children the character of God. They taught their children to make offerings to the One who created them. How the children responded to their teachings was on Cain, Abel and Seth. One became a murderer. Another was just a breath and vapor on the earth, but God immortalized him in the great hall of faith in Hebrews 11. And Seth knew to worship and call upon the name of Yahweh. It is my guess he heard that name and learned that character trait of God by observing his parents call on Yahweh, I AM THAT I AM.
“When Seth grew up, he had a son and named him Enosh. At that time people first began to worship the LORD (YAHWEH) by name.” Genesis 4:26 NLT
Seth was the anointed one of Adam and Eve’s three sons. He was anointed to be the first to worship YAHWEH publicly. “Then men began to call on the name of the LORD.” Genesis 4:26.
We all are inadequate at this parenting business, but the one thing we can all do right, and it is the most important thing:
Teach our kids to call upon the name of the LORD.
Absolutely!