Thursday May 11th, 2023
Meditate on: Ephesians 6:4 AMB
« Parents, do not provoke your children to anger [do not exasperate them to the point of resentment with demands that are trivial or unreasonable or humiliating or abusive; nor by showing favoritism or indifference to any of them], but bring them up [tenderly, with lovingkindness] in the discipline and instruction of the Lord. »
Read: 1 Samuel 22:1-2 NKJV
1 David departed and escaped to the cave Adullam: when his brothers and all his father’s house heard it, they went down to him there.
2 And everyone who was in distress, in debt, and discontented, gathered around him; and he became captain over them. There were about four hundred men with him.
Understand:
Three vital ingredients are necessary to make every parent successful in the task of nurturing children as precious gifts from God.
These are knowledge, understanding and godliness.
Unfortunately, many people who are privileged to be parents do not have what it takes to effectively fulfill their responsibilities.
Parents need the type of knowledge that is found only in God’s word to carry out their parental responsibilities in line with God’s expectations.
Speaking on the significance of children in our lives, Psalm 127:3 NASB 1995 says:
« Behold, children are a gift of the LORD, The fruit of the womb is a reward. »
Parents need to understand that through procreation, God gets His reward for all the care He has bestowed on them from the time they were born!
In other words, because of human reproduction, God does not need to repeatedly go through the process of molding clay to create new generations of worshipers that He desires.
Children are God’s reward, so nobody should attempt to share His glory with Him over them.
Parents must stop “playing God” over their children; rather, they should nurture them to meet God’s expectations, according to today’s memory verse.
Our Bible reading tells us an interesting story of “abandoned children”, who were once social miscreants, identifying with a man who had the heart of a father to take them in.
It is equally interesting that this man, David, was also a fugitive. He was on the run because a jealous king wanted to kill him.
David did not discard these boys; rather, he nurtured them to become useful for themselves, their families and the society at large.
In Nigerian street parlance, he became the “area father” of about four hundred “area boys” who became soldiers for the nation of Israel when he became king. Here is a roll call of a few of them and their exploits in 2 Samuel 23:8-10 NKJV
8 These are the names of the mighty men whom David had: Josheb-Basshebeth the Tachmonite, chief among the captains. He was called Adino the Eznite, because he had killed eight hundred men at one time.
9 And after him was Eleazar the son of Dodo, the Ahohite, one of the three mighty men with David when they defied the Philistines who were gathered there for battle, and the men of Israel had retreated.
10 He arose and attacked the Philistines until his hand was weary, and his hand stuck to the sword. The Lord brought about a great victory that day; and the people returned after him only to plunder.”
From their example, let us learn to nurture and train our biological and spiritual children to the point of fulfilling their destinies.
When we develop them like David did to the abandoned vagabonds, they will go on to become useful assets for God and humanity in the near future.
Prayer point: Father, teach us to nurture and not despise Your heritage in the children placed in our care.
Author: Bishop Enoch. A. Adeboye.
Edited by Naomie
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