When They Just Won’t Listen
One of the biggest frustrations parents have is when their teen/young adult child is unwilling to listen to sound wisdom. Even more frustrating is when your child is in crisis and thinks that their wisdom is more sound than yours.
Teens and young adults are wrapped up in their emotions, feelings, and urgency of the circumstances that surround them. This clouds the consequences of their choices and actions.
Think of it as looking for a car. You have a thought in mind. You find the car of your desire and you love the color, design, and price. Looking at those things, you’re hooked into getting it, But wait! You haven’t test driven it or had it inspected by a mechanic. You think it looks great. And so you make your decision to buy the car by what you see instead of what you really know about it. In the end, after you think you are smart enough, wise enough, and knowledgeable enough, it turns out to be a lemon. A lemon with tons of problems you couldn’t see with the naked eye. Yep! This is how our kids think!
Countless times there have been deep and long drawn-out conversations with my child only for them to turn a deaf ear to those words. This shared wisdom was packed with tons of truth. Sadly however, that advice wasn’t received or adhered to. It is only when their failed wisdom comes to light that they wished they had not made the decisions that they did. Then we as parents have to somehow try to pick up the shattered pieces or watch our child suffer from the error of their ways.
Daily this is played out in homes around the world. Teens and young adults don’t want to listen to the words of wisdom. This reminds me of the Biblical account of the Hebrews who left Egypt. They complained, whined, ignored truth, disobeyed, doubted, and in the end paid a heavy price for it – walking in the desert for 40 years, with generations not making it into the promised land.
Thank goodness we have Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit to walk us through each moment and crisis with our children. Yes, we can look for God’s deliverance for our children. Let us pray that God would take the blinders off of our children’s eyes and for the lies to be exposed to truth. Let us intercede for them with faith and hope that their chains of destructive behaviors will be destroyed once and for all.
God so desires to heal our broken children. He pursues them every day. He wants to give them healing, to protect them, and to have a relationship with them.
So when our children won’t listen to you, God will. He will restore and make whole again. Trust Him in the process as you continue to lift your child up to the Lord. It may not happen overnight. Consistency is the key. Don’t give up! Keep praying, keep seeking, keep knocking on God’s door and He will answer when the time is perfect – when your child will finally listen.
My son, if you accept my words and store up my commands within you,turning your ear to wisdom and applying your heart to understanding— indeed, if you call out for insight and cry aloud for understanding, and if you look for it as for silver and search for it as for hidden treasure, then you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God.
For the Lord gives wisdom; from his mouth come knowledge and understanding. He holds success in store for the upright, he is a shield to those whose walk is blameless, for he guards the course of the just and protects the way of his faithful ones. Then you will understand what is right and just and fair—every good path. For wisdom will enter your heart,and knowledge will be pleasant to your soul. Discretion will protect you, and understanding will guard you.
Proverbs 2:1-11 NIV
Photo Courtesy of Jay Clarke