Children, Arrows, and God's Strategy

I am one of 2 men that work on a team with 16 women. No, I don't work at a nail salon. No, I don't work at great clips. I work as a children's pastor at New Life Church. When I first started in children's ministry, I began to ask God if he had the wrong person for the job. After all, I like manly activities. I like to go fly fishing. I enjoy prairie dog hunting (If you shoot them in the right spot, they will do a flip and land flat on their backs-pretty cool). One of my favorite movies is We Were Soldiers. I have coached High School football and wrestling for the past 6 years. Did I mention that I enjoy manly activities? So, why did God place me in children's ministry with a bunch of women?? God's answer to this question has changed my paradigm on children.

³ Children are a heritage from the LORD,
offspring a reward from him.
⁴ Like arrows in the hands of a warrior
are children born in one’s youth.
⁵ Blessed is the man
whose quiver is full of them.
They will not be put to shame
when they contend with their opponents in court. Psalm 127:3-6

God is comparing children to arrows. Arrows are an offensive weapon. That's right, the chief strategist (GOD) is calling children offensive weapons. The Message puts it like this:

^3-5 Don't you see that children are God's best gift?
the fruit of the womb his generous legacy?
Like a warrior's fistful of arrows
are the children of a vigorous youth.
Oh, how blessed are you parents,
with your quivers full of children!
Your enemies don't stand a chance against you;
you'll sweep them right off your doorstep.

Psalm 8:2 is another example of how God is correlating children with the advancement of His kingdom.

² Through the praise of children and infants
you have established a stronghold against your enemies,
to silence the foe and the avenger. Psalm 8:2

Most of us have read the end of the Bible and we realize that, in the end, God wins. What I think a lot of people miss is what role children play in God's grand strategy. I think too many people subconsciously think that children have received a Jr. Holy Spirit and can't do much until they grow up. This couldn't be further from the truth. God has placed the same Holy Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead within the hearts and upon the lives of children. God wants to use them right now for ministry. As the body of Christ, we can't afford to ignore them or their role in the story. We must encourage them to find their God-given mission, and train them to be successful. If we do this well, we will see miraculous results. In fact, our enemies "don't stand a chance against us." We'll sweep them right off our doorstep.