If you’re a conservative parent, especially a homeschooling parent, you’ve likely been asked, “You don’t want your kids to grow up sheltered, do you?”
Let’s think about that. Our culture has once again taken a beautiful, Godly characteristic and theme and turned it into an insult. No teen wants to be called “sheltered” by his peers. It implies that he is inexperienced, ignorant, and incapable of navigating the world. This LIE and linguistic theft has infiltrated our language in such a way as to make parents question whether protecting the hearts and minds of their children is actually hurting them. Presented as if it is a legitimate risk, this lie is used as a justification for our culture to persuade parents to prematurely expose children to evil, to cultural depravity, to the ways of the world, and to send them off into battle before they have any chance of standing their own ground.
The Bible is very clear about the immense value of shelter. In the Old Testament times, shelter often meant the difference between life and death – and it is the same for our children today. Just as David called out for God to be his shelter, and gave thanks and praise to God for providing shelter, we parents must also provide our children with a safe place, a fortress, a cool refuge from the blazing heat of the world. Psalm 118 plainly tells us that, “It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in humans.”
So when someone says to you, “You don’t want your kids to be sheltered, do you?” I encourage you to CONFIDENTLY reply, “I sure do!” And along with that, feel free to raise your kids to be close-minded as well. When it comes to exposing ourselves and our children to the ways of the world, we want our HEARTS to be wide open, but our minds need to be closed to the depravity and lies that seek to destroy our souls.
My favorite verse about the sweetness of God’s shelter is Psalm 91:
Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High
will rest in the shadow of the Almighty.
I will say of the Lord, “He is my refuge and my fortress,
my God, in whom I trust.”
Surely he will save you
from the fowler’s snare
and from the deadly pestilence.
He will cover you with his feathers,
and under his wings you will find refuge;
his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart.
You will not fear the terror of night,
nor the arrow that flies by day,
nor the pestilence that stalks in the darkness,
nor the plague that destroys at midday.
A thousand may fall at your side,
ten thousand at your right hand,
but it will not come near you.
You will only observe with your eyes
and see the punishment of the wicked.
If you say, “The Lord is my refuge,”
and you make the Most High your dwelling,
no harm will overtake you,
no disaster will come near your tent.
For he will command his angels concerning you
to guard you in all your ways;
they will lift you up in their hands,
so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.
You will tread on the lion and the cobra;
you will trample the great lion and the serpent.
“Because he loves me,” says the Lord, “I will rescue him;
I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name.
He will call on me, and I will answer him;
I will be with him in trouble,
I will deliver him and honor him.
with long life I will satisfy him
and show him my salvation.”
Charmaine Rusin 