As I read the book of 2nd Kings it blows my mind how one King can be so good and his son so evil. Hezekiah was such a good King who followed the Lord so faithfully, but his son Manasseh was the most evil of them all. He worshipped all manner of idols, everything in the heavens and burned his own son as a sacrifice. In addition to that he was into sorcery and divination, consulted mediums and spiritists and killed so many innocent people that Jerusalem was full of innocent blood from one end to the other. This guy was nuts!! He desecrated the temple of the Lord by putting a statue of asherah in it. He was so bad he became the last straw and Jehovah decided that he just had to take them away to Exile in Babylon. What happened between Hezekiah and Manasseh?
Then comes Josiah whose birth and what he would do had been prophesied hundreds of years before during the reign on Jeroboam son of Nebat. They found the book of the law, he read it and went to work. He made great reforms and did a beautiful job of cleansing the land. However, his son Jehoahaz did evil in the eyes of the Lord. I kept asking my self what happened and why there could be such righteous Kings with such evil children.
And the Lord said to me 'It's all in the training.' Train up a child in the way he should go and when he is old he will not depart from it. The Kings were not responsible for the training of their children but put them under the care of servants most of the time. They learned from those people and not from their parents. Children learn by observation.
The question becomes, who is raising your children? Have you left their care to their teachers at school and the house help? Are you raising a Manasseh while you are a Hezekiah and wondering why your child is not going the way you want? Prioritize your children over work and material things. Even being over committed at your church could be a problem if you are not careful. When I read about these stories it strengthens my resolve to be a stay at home mom when the time comes. If I am a Josiah, then my children will be twice me.
Sela
2 comments:
0wesome!!!!!!Thanx for the great article. The idea of being a stay at home mum is a wise idea am also thinking of the same....God bless me with a hard working husband!
boy, do they learn by observation!. Children are with us for a very brief time and we have a window of opportunity to set them right at the start. To me, being a stay-at-home mom was not an option, it was a calling. I had borne them and sure as hell I was not going to let anyone screw them up. As soon as you have kids, it seems like there are a thousand willing parties that want to absolve you of the responsibility of raising them. All kinds of programs that urge you to send little johnny over for instruction and a head start. Nobody is more equipped and has the love and desire to raise those kids right better than you do. You will know the little rascals so well and that is the grace of God, to know them sooo well and instruct them in the way they should go. My mother was a Stay-at-home mom and taught us the ways of the Lord and I can never get away from it if I tried. My kids will know the Lord through me: it is the best insurance I can offer them and it is a blast all the way there!
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