 why does it seem like kids are so bad particularly why does it seem like a lot of Christian kids are so bad many of you all familiar with the passage in Proverbs 226 this passage says train a child in the way that he should go and when he is old he will not depart it well the question is how come Christian families who do their very best to try to grow these children and instill in them the word of God and to maybe even take him to Christian school who knows home school what have you do their very best to train him and it seems like there's one maybe two a lot of these kids they've been taught the right thing they've been shown the right way and then when they get older and in some case old they seem to depart why is that is it though the word of God has failed when he says if you train them this way then when they're all they want to depart but we still see kids departing when they get older as a matter of fact isn't it interesting when we see that Israel who are the children of Israel who we would say that I'll be trained by God who have godly leaders there at many points throughout Israel's existence especially come out of Egypt they've got men who know the word who are hearing from God who are training them who are teaching them not only do the adults go astray but the children do as well how could that be well here's how that could be because it does not say how it reads in the English let's go back to the page and I'll show you my point it says trend a child in the way that he should go we want to focus on this word here the way let's go over here to the to the right side on the Hebrew and let's focus on this word the way that he should go we'll see that it's not quite how it says in English we see this Hebrew word here Al which is on over upon then we have this word P which is mouth in Darko which is his way and so if we put it together it says upon the mouth of his way that doesn't make any sense why because it's a Hebrew idiom a Hebrew idiom is a figure of speech a way of saying things but it has a meaning well let's go back to it and see if we can understand the meaning in the we can even see why it may have been originally written in the way that he should go Al P. Derko is upon the mouth of his way well that is according to the way that the kid wants to go so what's being stated is it's not so much a command to train him that way what it really is is you're training him this way the way that he should go according to the bent of his way we all have this natural bent and so if you train this child the way that he wants to go then when he's old he'll keep going the way he wants to go we've seen children let's be honest we've seen little children angel face children who if you give them the opportunity they will do some dastardly things if you tell a child don't eat the cookies before dinner you leave the room come back and the cookies are the bags busted wide open crumbs all over the place all over their face you ask the child one-year-old two-year-old three-year-old five it doesn't matter ask them did you eat the cookies what is that child with those darling little angel face is going to do and say they're going to tell you no we did not eat the cookies they're going to tell you no I did not eat the cookies hey Jack did did you eat a cupcake you didn't eat a cupcake you sure you didn't eat a cupcake hmm I thought you maybe had a cupcake no no definitely not no not like in the last couple minutes no no cupcake for Jack no oh okay why because that's just the way children are a matter of fact that's just the way human beings are Isaiah puts it this way he says in 53 verse 6 he says all of us alike sheep have gone astray each of us has turned his own way and I want you look at the word for way in the Hebrew it is the same word that we see in proverb 226 it is the word there go his way and if we allow kids to go to his natural bit naturally the way he or she wants to go then at five years old he is messy he's selfish he's angry he's whatever in 10 years in 20 years in 30 years 50 years he won't move away from that he'll continue to go in that way as a matter of fact more to the point he will be better at it he'll be better at sending and so if you allow him to grow up in that way when he's old he will not depart now that makes sense now we see that goes perfectly with how we've experienced people in society those who've been trained or allowed to go their own way they don't depart from that it takes a special move for God as matter of fact even those who have been trained properly who weren't trained in the way that we wanted to go it still takes God's special move his spirit upon us to keep us in line and so just to kind of get clarifications first of all when someone says that there are no bad kids all children are bad because all human things are bad there's none good no not one and so it's a good understanding for parents especially for your parents of small children or grandchildren to help you to see how this should be applied and if we apply it correctly if we don't allow them to do what they want to do well then it will work out according to the way that God wants to do according to God's way amen