“Now gird up your loins like a man.” ~ Job 38:3a
One of my most favorite books of the Bible is Jeremiah, and not just because he is called to one of the most unique and special jobs God could ever offer someone, but because some of the time he doesn’t want it.
He’s real, he’s human. I often forget that about Biblical characters. We’re shown such melodramatic caricatures of these people in Sunday school that we can easily forget they were real people. Watch too many “Veggie Tales” videos and you’ll think Gideon was a tuba-playing cucumber!
For Jeremiah, there are times he’s unsure what God wants from him or why. Then there are other times when he just wants to be done. Jeremiah, if you recall, at one points says to God that He can bring down all the calamity on the Israelites He wants just as long as Jeremiah can quit being a prophet. Hmm…
I love this about Jeremiah. I love the fact that God not only has used Jeremiah to prophecy about one of the greatest events in His story — the exile of the Israelites to Babylon — but He’s allowed Jeremiah to write in a way that gives us a sense of how God calls and uses anybody, not just super-human people — they don’t exist.
It’s why I will turn to this book of the Bible more often than anything else. This is me on a good day. On a bad day, I’m even more cranky and less likely to love my neighbor than Jeremiah, and I have fewer reasons than he does to act this way. And let’s be honest, this is you, too. We don’t always want to do what the Lord wants. Sometimes we want to be Jeremiah and say, “Ah, heck with it, Lord. Just destroy the earth and be done.” (I found myself wishing this just the other morning…)
But God doesn’t let him go that quickly, does He? No. He continually tells Jeremiah to buck up, stand tall and listen. He says in the NIV to “stand up and say to them whatever I command you. Do not be terrified by them, or I will terrify you before them” (Jeremiah 1:17), which means, “If you don’t do what I say because you’re scared, then I’ll show you and everybody else the real meaning of scared.”
I think the NASB translation puts it even better: “Now, gird up your loins and arise, and speak to them all which I command you. Do not be dismayed before them, or I will dismay you before them.” Gird up your loins! Pull up your pants, tighten your belt and stand strong like a man! End of Chapter One.
What does Jeremiah do? Well, chapter 2 begins like this: “The Word of the Lord came to me: Go and proclaim in the hearing of Jerusalem.” And Jeremiah goes, loins girded.
It’s not easy being a father sometimes, is it? There are days each of us wants to unload the burden that we believe it to be. It doesn’t always feel like the blessing it’s supposed to be. I have nine children now, and there are days when I come home from work, and I’m not sure I can make it. I’m sure many of you are reading this and thinking my problem is too many children. But I know many of you with one child or two children also sometimes feel overwhelmed.
It’s not really the number of children that’s the issue, it’s the responsibility of caring for them, and the responsibility for one child is the same as it is for nine, just at times greater in magnitude. Family is family regardless of size, and as fathers, we have a lot of responsibility.
But we must stand firm and be strong as often as possible before our wives and our children. We need to remember that what Christ gives us is never more than we can bear as long we turn and rely upon Him. The example we show our boys is one they will take into their own marriages and family relationships. We want to raise strong men in Christ who stand tall, who as the Bible says, gird their loins.
This is especially true when we have those moments in life when we’re unsure where God is, whether He’s really listening, or at worse, moments of despair when we may even feel abandoned (for the record, we are never abandoned by Him).
Think of Job. Here’s a man who has lost everything: his possessions, his home, his wife and children. He’s sitting here before his friends, even suffering from painful plague-like blisters, and they keep harassing him, telling him he must have sinned and for all his loss, why not just curse the Lord or better yet, confess and move on.
And while Job never curses the Lord, he does begin to question God’s motives for allowing such pain in his life — the infamous “Why me, Lord?” To which God replies “Now gird up your loins like a man,” not once, but twice (Job 38:3 and Job 40:7), while taking the time to explain that God controls all things and that all is for His glory.
I’m not saying it’s unmanly to cry before your wife and children or that you’re less of a man for wondering where God is leading you, or if He’s leading you at all. I’ve done it and am sure there will be points in my life when I do it again. Solomon says in Ecclesiastes that “there is an appointed time for everything. And there is a time for every event under heaven” (Ecclesiastes 3:1), and to show a softer side can be as important and often as necessary.
But in times of opposition, you are called to “strengthen the hands that are weak and the knees that are feeble” (Hebrews 12:12) and to “endure hardship as discipline” (Hebrews 12:7 NIV).
This is especially true when standing up for our faith and our families. God equips us if we let Him, and Paul tells us in Ephesians that we must “stand firm therefore, having girded your loins with truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace” (Ephesians 6:14-15).
Raising Christ-like children is hard when going with the flow is just all too easy, especially in today’s world. And let’s be honest, many Christian families are doing little to make themselves look different than those who have yet to call upon His name. Standing firm is being different. It’s explaining to our children why watching that movie isn’t right, or why the dress our daughter wants to wear is never appropriate. It’s reminding our family that God has called us to run with the horses and not other men (also from Jeremiah).
But it’s also standing firm before others who question why you’d bother to raise your family like this, even when it’s a question asked by your fellow congregant while standing in the church lobby on a Sunday morning (we get that often about the size of our family, but that’s another matter).
And if we’re standing firm in our Christ-like behavior as a family, then it will be easier to do what God expects and to stand firm on behalf of others. Isaiah says to “learn to do good; seek justice, reprove the ruthless, defend the orphan, plead for the widow” (Isaiah 1:17). James seconds this opinion by saying, “Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world” (James 1:27). Note that both of these passages aren’t buried in either book. No, they’re right up front where one will read them before they might give up on the rest of the chapters.
If we’re raising our families right, especially our boys, then our “girding our loins” before the Lord is as external as it is internal. We are looking for ways to assist those in need, not only by sharing the Gospel but helping to provide in a way what God deems acceptable as “pure and undefiled religion.”
I know that standing firm can be a daunting task. There are days when I feel brought to my knees, moments when I want nothing but to stay in bed in the morning and not face the day. But I am continually encouraged by the Lord if I allow Him to be an active part of my life. I am reminded that “I can do all things through Him who strengthens me” (Philippians 4:13).
This is truth. There’s nothing to doubt here. So, let us show and teach our boys how to gird up our loins like a man. It may sound funny, it may even look funny, but it’s as serious as God was when He created you for purpose and made you your boy’s father.
Today’s piece was taken from Christopher’s book “Raising Sons.” It is a companion piece to his other book “Raising Daughters.” While written to dads, these books make a great family read, complete with Bible readings, study questions and prayerful reflection. Both are available by clicking here.
