A shocking Reason Why Honoring our Parents is so Important

Maybe it's because I'm so tired as I've been awake all night, but this hit me like a ton of bricks today, so I just had to share it with you. Psalm 91 is a wonderful psalm full of promises from the Lord of how He will provide and care for us if we will "dwell in Him." It's also has the verses Satan used or tried to use to tempt Satan with when he told Jesus to throw himself off the top of the temple parapet because God would send angels to prevent him from being hurt. Just after those verses is another very important verse:

Psalm 91:14–16 —“Because he loves me,” says the Lord, “I will rescue him; I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name. *He will call upon me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble, I will deliver him and honor him. *With long life will I satisfy him and show him my salvation.” * The phrase "acknowledges my name", means to understand God's character, and no one can do that of course unless they know God well.

What blew me away though was when I read in one of the commentaries a reference to the 5th commandment - to honor our fathers and mothers so our days will be long... (Deuteronomy 5:16; Exodus 20:12; Ephesians 6:2) At first I was confused wondering why they would have that there. It didn't make sense. Then all of a sudden it did! All through His Word, God is called the Father. And He was especially so to our Lord Jesus who told us we were to call Him "our Father."

Now, before I go jumping off the cliff, let me first say that I've understood for a long time that honoring our parents is important because our relationship with them is a reflection of our relationship with God. I simply didn't realize how much of a reflection it was or completely understand why.

In the verses I quoted above though, you'll notice that God says that He will protect the one who loves Him and grant him a long life. Remember, in the 5th commandment is called, "the first commandment with a promise" and the promise is for a long life. Recall too how Jesus always spoke of God as being His Father. So it's easy to see why Satan would speak of the other verses as applying to Jesus. Jesus certainly dwelled in the Father and understood His character, since He and the Father were one. No one could have done so better then He. Just like everything else, Jesus modeled this psalm perfectly for us!

Once we understand that God is the Father and that He is speaking to those who love Him "with all their hearts, all their souls and all their strength", and who "dwell (or abide) in Him constantly (rather then like those who just run to Him when they have a problem for example). Remember, Jesus and the apostles frequently told us that we had to "abide" or "dwell in" or "continue in" Him and His Word in order to be His followers and bear fruit. We read that all through the New Testament. A person who is doing that, is a picture of a beloved child who is well behaved and honors their parents! It's a picture of Jesus, who as I said, was the perfect model of this.

It's amazing to me too how each element of this depends on and interacts with the others. Only someone who is really abiding in God, putting Him first in their lives and living for Him, can truly know Him, because they'll also be constantly in His Word, just as Jesus said. And they are the ones who will be bearing fruit for the kingdom as well, again as Jesus told us. Just as a well behaved child bears fruit for their parents. They're able to do so because they love their parents so much that they do their best to really get to know them. That way their parents don't have to tell them what to do all the time, because they already know their parent's will and do it without being asked. They also try to determine in advance what their parents will want and do it for them. As they grow in the love and knowledge of their parents, the better they're able to do what their parents want and expect.

It's the same with us and God. So our relationship with our human parents is a reflection of our relationship with the Father, which is why He tells us to honor them without any conditions attached to it. He doesn't say to honor them if they've been perfect parents and deserve it, He simply says to honor them. This doesn't mean that someone who has abusive parents has to place themselves in danger or that they have to even maintain contact with them if that would be dangerous. It means exactly what it says: to honor them. (Not speaking badly of them, forgiving them, being respectful even if they don't deserve it, etc.) God continuously holds us to higher standard because we're His children, so to honor Him, we're to honor them.

Isn't that neat though? I love how all God's Word ties together like this! (hope I didn't ramble too much being so tired ) Oh here's a bit of trivia for you too. Here's what Luther said about Psalm 91: “This is the most distinguished jewel among all the psalms of consolation”