Study from God’s Word… 2nd Samuel 16: 15-22; 2nd Sam. 16: 23 – 17: 4; 2nd Sam. 17: 5 – 29; 2nd Sam. 18: 1 – 33 [including today’s verse]; 2nd Samuel 19: 1 – 4 …Passage for Reflection: 2nd Samuel 18: 33 … NIV 33 The king was shaken. He went up to the room over the gateway and wept. As he went, he said: "O my son Absalom! My son, my son Absalom! If only I had died instead of you—O Absalom, my son, my son!".
My Journal for Today: When you read (or have read) about the death of Absalom and his personal and political attempt to unseat and even kill his father; and then we read of David’s tender desire to spare Absalom; and we read of David’s grief over his death; … what do you glean from all of this as a take-away lesson from God’s word?
Well, there are a couple of lessons for me. One is that the sins of the father can – and often do – visit the next generation. We know how weak and immoral David was in the Bathsheba incident and cover-up; and we can speculate that David still had fondness for his son, after Absalom’s death, because he reflected on his own weaknesses and felt that he had failed being the example he should have been for his son. Perhaps, you are like I am … knowing that you could have done a better job of raising your kids; and you have great empathy and love for any weaknesses they might have which could have been attributed to the poor modeling or parenting you provided for your kids. Perhaps you did the best you could, even being a good Christian parent; and your child still turned out bad; and you grieve over their disobedience and weaknesses, willing to excuse their faults because of your past parenting.
Now, we have to look at all of this from Absalom’s viewpoint. Obviously, Absalom wasn’t able to see in David what God saw in this “man after God’s own heart.” Instead, he felt slighted in some way. Perhaps he was not given the attention (i.e., time) or affirmation which Absalom felt he deserved, especially being the son of king. How often does a preacher’s kid go bad when the pastor father gives much more time to the church and very little comes the child’s way? But whatever caused the parent/child wounding, Absalom certainly had it in for his dad, the King; and we see how this ultimately played out in the tragic and gruesome death of the King’s son as he tried to go to war with David.
If you are a parent reading this, I don’t know how your kids turned out or what attitude they hold for you as a parent. Somehow, despite much neglect and poor “dadsmanship” as a parent of our two daughters when they were very young, they turned out to be Godly, Christian women, who are currently raising their kids, along with their hubbies, in a Godly fashion. To that I can only praise God’s grace. I guess I came to a saving and sanctifying relationship with Christ in time for me to give them the parenting they needed in their formative years of growth. And my wife was certainly a wonderful role model and caring Christian mom during all those formative years.
But I do know that Godly parenting holds with it great promise or horrible heart-aches. I don’t know how it has turned out for you; but whatever you do, hug your kids everyday. Tell them – yes, …TELL THEM – you love them … OFTEN. Give them a lot of positive affirmation; and then hug them some more!!! Prayerfully your parenting will not yield an Absalom-type tragedy; and you will see your children be raised in the admonition of God’s truth as well as the in the loving shadow of His wings. And in that environment, I pray that your children, like two we have raised, will come to know Christ and have a deep and abiding relationship with Him, passing along their God to their children as you have given them Christ in your life.
My Prayer for Today: LORD, I pray that all who read this love their parents and their parents love them; and I pray that Your love is being passed on through the generations of their families. Amen
Showing posts with label affirmation. Show all posts
Showing posts with label affirmation. Show all posts
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
Sunday, November 29, 2009
2009 – Day 332.Nov 29 – Refreshing Affirmation
Passage for Study: Acts 17: 1 - 9 … Acts 17 linked for study …
2nd Passage for Study: 1st Thes. 2: 1 - 12 … 1st Thes. 2 linked for study …
My Journal for Today: Today we see one more quality which is much needed in parenting and one which you’ll need - as did Paul - when you’re called into Christian leadership; and that trait is AFFIRMATION.
Note what Paul writes to the Chrisians at Thessalonica, in 1st Thess. 2: 10 - 12, “You are witnesses, and God also, how devoutly and justly and blamelessly we behaved ourselves among you who believe; 11 as you know how we exhorted, and comforted, and charged every one of you, as a father does his own children, 12 that you would walk worthy of God who calls you into His own kingdom and glory.”
Paul recognized his need in leadership to encourage and affirm those who had come to Christ so that they would grow up in their faith and “walk worthy of God.” And Paul was right on target as he was using this parenting word picture when it comes to the development of our Christian walk.
My dear one, I don’t know about your parents and your upbringing. But if you didn’t get very much affirmation and encouragement from your parents, it may have been difficult for you to grow up with confidence and strength and become affirming to your children, should you have become a parent. The emotional wounds that develop from a desert of affirmation as a child often become a desert of encouragement later in life for one who was deprived of encouragement by his/her parents as a child.
In fact that is the word picture which Chuch Swindoll uses to describe the need for and the provision of parental affirmation. It is a picture of an oasis in the middle of a harsh and dry desert. When we’re growing up as children, the world can be a harsh and dry place, where we, as children, become thirsty for encouragement and affirmation. And in order for us to grow emotionally, we need to be able to come back to the family oasis where our parents give us a steady/safe place to be refreshed with their well spring of love, affection, and lavish affirmation.
Think of what’s going on in our culture/world today. We have a vast numbers of kids who have no fathers or AWOL dads who are either not there physically or emotionally absent to provide their kids with the drink of encouragement these kids are so parched to receive. And so, where do you think these affirmation thirsty kids go to get the refreshing drink of encouragement they need? Yes, they go to gangs or to an older peer who gives them attention and perceived affirmation. Hence, we see gangs forming and teen girls getting pregnant because they fall prey to the substitute encouragement they receive from someone other than a parent.
Maybe you identify with this; and perhaps, as a parent or a leader in some Christian ministry, you’re convicted because you have not provided the time, encouragement, or affirmation so needed by your kids, your grandkids, or your flock in ministry. Well, if that’s the case, it’s never too late for the change which God, through His word can bring about in your life. And I pray that you’ll find the refreshing love and encouragment that Paul found in his relationship with Christ. And then Paul was transformed from a parched Christian hater to a well spring of encouragement and affirmation for those whom God led to him to find Christ and to grow from his ministry.
My friend, every day, I come here to the oasis of affirmation which I receive when I’m here communing with God in my daily morning devotional. And just as I was this morning, I drink from the well of God’s truth; and I’m filled to overflowing with the encouragement and life-giving energy I get from being in the presence of God. The world is a harsh and dry place; and I’ve come to recognize that I can become that deer panting after God’s refreshing affirmation in Psalm 41: 1-2. But when I come to this quiet place each day, I come to the place where I can always be refreshed and uplifted by the infinite filling of God’s ever refreshing, Spirit-given, well of truth and love. I pray you are refreshed in this way every day of your life. You need it, and so do I.
My Prayer for Today: Lord, thank You for being there to give me the drink of Your love I receive each morning when I come to this oasis to drink from Your truth. Amen
2nd Passage for Study: 1st Thes. 2: 1 - 12 … 1st Thes. 2 linked for study …
My Journal for Today: Today we see one more quality which is much needed in parenting and one which you’ll need - as did Paul - when you’re called into Christian leadership; and that trait is AFFIRMATION.
Note what Paul writes to the Chrisians at Thessalonica, in 1st Thess. 2: 10 - 12, “You are witnesses, and God also, how devoutly and justly and blamelessly we behaved ourselves among you who believe; 11 as you know how we exhorted, and comforted, and charged every one of you, as a father does his own children, 12 that you would walk worthy of God who calls you into His own kingdom and glory.”
Paul recognized his need in leadership to encourage and affirm those who had come to Christ so that they would grow up in their faith and “walk worthy of God.” And Paul was right on target as he was using this parenting word picture when it comes to the development of our Christian walk.
My dear one, I don’t know about your parents and your upbringing. But if you didn’t get very much affirmation and encouragement from your parents, it may have been difficult for you to grow up with confidence and strength and become affirming to your children, should you have become a parent. The emotional wounds that develop from a desert of affirmation as a child often become a desert of encouragement later in life for one who was deprived of encouragement by his/her parents as a child.
In fact that is the word picture which Chuch Swindoll uses to describe the need for and the provision of parental affirmation. It is a picture of an oasis in the middle of a harsh and dry desert. When we’re growing up as children, the world can be a harsh and dry place, where we, as children, become thirsty for encouragement and affirmation. And in order for us to grow emotionally, we need to be able to come back to the family oasis where our parents give us a steady/safe place to be refreshed with their well spring of love, affection, and lavish affirmation.
Think of what’s going on in our culture/world today. We have a vast numbers of kids who have no fathers or AWOL dads who are either not there physically or emotionally absent to provide their kids with the drink of encouragement these kids are so parched to receive. And so, where do you think these affirmation thirsty kids go to get the refreshing drink of encouragement they need? Yes, they go to gangs or to an older peer who gives them attention and perceived affirmation. Hence, we see gangs forming and teen girls getting pregnant because they fall prey to the substitute encouragement they receive from someone other than a parent.
Maybe you identify with this; and perhaps, as a parent or a leader in some Christian ministry, you’re convicted because you have not provided the time, encouragement, or affirmation so needed by your kids, your grandkids, or your flock in ministry. Well, if that’s the case, it’s never too late for the change which God, through His word can bring about in your life. And I pray that you’ll find the refreshing love and encouragment that Paul found in his relationship with Christ. And then Paul was transformed from a parched Christian hater to a well spring of encouragement and affirmation for those whom God led to him to find Christ and to grow from his ministry.
My friend, every day, I come here to the oasis of affirmation which I receive when I’m here communing with God in my daily morning devotional. And just as I was this morning, I drink from the well of God’s truth; and I’m filled to overflowing with the encouragement and life-giving energy I get from being in the presence of God. The world is a harsh and dry place; and I’ve come to recognize that I can become that deer panting after God’s refreshing affirmation in Psalm 41: 1-2. But when I come to this quiet place each day, I come to the place where I can always be refreshed and uplifted by the infinite filling of God’s ever refreshing, Spirit-given, well of truth and love. I pray you are refreshed in this way every day of your life. You need it, and so do I.
My Prayer for Today: Lord, thank You for being there to give me the drink of Your love I receive each morning when I come to this oasis to drink from Your truth. Amen
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