Is the Lad with Thee?

Genesis 44:34 – “For how shall I go up to my father, and the lad be not with me? lest peradventure I see the evil that shall come on my father.”

The story is told of an evangelist who used this text at a weekday service to draw some heart-searching applications about the responsibility of parents for the salvation of their children. At the close of the noonday meeting a woman left the crowded auditorium under deep conviction. The verse had pierced her soul like an arrow, for her only son was not a Christian even though he was already a teenager.

Suddenly realizing that she had never personally dealt with him regarding his eternal destiny, she immediately went to his school and waited for him to be dismissed. He was surprised to see her, but the tears in her eyes and the serious look on her face made him realize at once that something important had brought her there to meet him. “Charlie,” she said, “I just listened to a message that stirred me through and through. The text was this, ‘For how shall I go up to my father, and the lad is not with me?’
Even though I am child of God and we read the Bible in our home I must admit that I have never actually talked to you about personally receiving Christ as your personal Savior. As you know, son, I’m not too well, and perhaps very soon I’ll be going to my Heavenly Father. I cannot leave you without the knowing that someday you will be with me.” Her earnest plea mingled with tears touched the lad deeply. That very hour he accepted Christ as his personal Savior and gave his life to Jesus.

Christian parents, knowing that you too will eventually have to appear before God, can I ask you a searching question? Have you personally pleaded with your children to give their hearts to the Savior? Tell me, is the lad with thee?