MEMORISE:
Woe to thee, O land, when thy king is a child, and thy princes eat in the morning! Ecclesiastes 10:16
READ: Ecclesiastes 10:16-18
16 Woe to thee, O land, when thy king is a child, and thy princes eat in the morning!
17 Blessed art thou, O land, when thy king is the son of nobles, and thy princes eat in due season, for strength, and not for drunkenness!
18 By much slothfulness the building decayeth; and through idleness of the hands the house droppeth through.
MESSAGE
In the previous study, the father was rightly described as the priest of the home. He is however also the king of the home. What a father does will have effect on every member of his family. As a father, you cannot afford to act like a child. From our memory verse, we see that it is the family that would suffer for the childishness of their king (the father).
Remember that everything you do is an example for your children. When you drink or send your son to buy you cigarettes, you are already introducing him to that lifestyle. When your children see you having an affair with a strange woman, you are sowing a terrible seed in their hearts. The way you talk to their mother is probably how your sons will talk to their wives too.
As mentioned earlier, you are the priest of the home, when the priest is spiritually asleep, God help that home! There are some demonic issues that a father need only issue a command for them to disappear, but if he is a spiritual baby, such issues would linger. As a father, how often do you pray for and on your children? Are you deliberate about teaching them the word of God?
Another reason for you to watch your spiritual life is that children could reap the harvest of the spiritual seeds their fathers have sown. In 1 Kings 11:34, God softened Solomon’s punishment for misbehaving because of David his father.
“Howbeit I will not take the whole kingdom out of his hand: but I will make him prince all the days of his life for David my servant's sake, whom I chose, because he kept my commandments and my statutes:”
Jonathan on the other hand was a good boy, but he partook in the punishment of his father and died a shameful death. I pity any child who has a baby as a father and I pray that God will rescue such children from any danger that their father’s ignorance or ‘childishness’ can cause them in the mighty name of Jesus.
REFLECTION:
Are you a mature father or a baby one?
BIBLE IN ONE YEAR: Proverbs 13-15.
AUTHOR: PASTOR E. A. ADEBOYE
HYMN 25 : ROCK OF AGES, CLEFT FOR ME.
1. Rock of Ages, cleft for me,
Let me hide myself in Thee;
Let the water and the blood,
From Thy wounded side which flowed,
Be of sin the double cure,
Save from wrath and make me pure.
2. Not the labor of my hands
Can fulfill Thy law’s demands;
Could my zeal no respite know,
Could my tears forever flow,
All for sin could not atone;
Thou must save, and Thou alone.
3. Nothing in my hand I bring,
Simply to Thy cross I cling;
Naked, come to Thee for dress;
Helpless, look to Thee for grace;
Foul, I to the fountain fly;
Wash me, Savior, or I die.
4. While I draw this fleeting breath,
When my eyes shall close in death,
When I rise to worlds unknown,
And behold Thee on Thy throne,
Rock of Ages, cleft for me,
Let me hide myself in Thee.
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