Mar 23, 2009

Fathers and sons

Scripture does not propose that the children of god-fearing parents will become god-fearing off-spring. In biblical history, sons are seen to fade in comparison. The sons of Eli and of Samuel even, were poor testimonies despite their lineage. What portends god-fearing sons? Levites, priests, raised and living in the goodness, fullness, of the House of the LORD; all seems to have assured nothing. Involved in the ministry, Aaron’s were destroyed for incorporating “false fire”, Samuel’s profaned their ministries till the people rejected them and the LORD, to seek a mere mortal for a king. Eli’s sons’ disdain and continual pollution, even within the House, incurred divine wrath which consumed the House of Eli.


In Isaac and Jacob, it appears that only these sons, who have had their own personal encounter and knowledge of the LORD, having an on-going or a restored relationship; these have been watched over, and preserved in His grace. Jacob, for all his lying and conniving ways, could not escape the discipline of the LORD. The god-fearing kings of Israel’s successes ran concurrently with their obedience to the Book of the Law. Those who cried out, from the midst of impending adversities, to their God, knew they had some possibility of deliverance. An audience with the LORD is not a guaranteed privilege.


And you shall eat and be full, and you shall bless the LORD your God for the good land he has given you. "Take care lest you forget the LORD your God by not keeping his commandments and his rules and his statutes, which I command you today, lest, when you have eaten and are full and have built good houses and live in them, and when your herds and flocks multiply and your silver and gold is multiplied and all that you have is multiplied, then your heart be lifted up, and you forget the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery, (Deut 8:10-14)


Beware lest you say in your heart, 'My power and the might of my hand have gotten me this wealth.' You shall remember the LORD your God, for it is he who gives you power to get wealth, that he may confirm his covenant that he swore to your fathers, as it is this day. (Deut 8:17-18)


Why do sons fail, after their fathers? Deut 8 provides some insights. The LORD is good, and He provides bountifully. Living in that bounty, we know no calamity, no drought, no illness, and no threats. In walled and high-towered cities, we lay claim to the promises and protection of the LORD. We prosper and continue in our pursuits; of happiness, wealth, and well-being; in and of themselves, not evil things. And we forget. The LORD does not impose Himself on us to demand thankfulness, to demand sacrifice. He does not even demand awareness; it was Moses who admonished “Take care lest ....lest….beware lest”.


In the wilderness, the LORD continued testing and teaching His people. He taught them with hunger and thirst, He taught them with death for despising manna to eat quail, with plagues, with Miriam turned leprous, with earth-swallowing tragedy and fiery serpents. Once in the cities, it seems He used only His prophets to warn, of drought and poor harvests, locusts and rot, and of impending invasion. But the people were always willfully forgetful. Some were conspicuously outright, preferring their idolatrous ways. As kings failed, priest failed, and the elders failed; then their sons along with them. It is immensely easy to forget the LORD in times of plenty. In the face of adversity, when things start to go amiss, we humanly complain. We do despise the chastening hand of the LORD especially when it hurts.


But I say that so long as the heir is a child, he differeth nothing from a bondservant, though he is lord of all; but is under guardians and stewards until the term appointed of the father. (Gal 4:2)


Speak unto all the congregation of the children of Israel, and say unto them, Ye shall be holy: for I the LORD your God am holy. (Lev 19:2)


As heirs, we are to submit to teaching and training. We need to sit and to learn, from the book, from teachers, from elders, from the Holy Spirit, from our Father. What differentiates the well-nurtured from brats, if not the hours spent on nurture and grooming, not least by God-fearing fathers and example? What happens indisputably with heirs who have been given free-rein to do as they please, heirs who have no sense of value, honor and the glory of their father’s name? Consider Rehoboam, the son of Solomon, with his council of other brats. He lost the kingdom. Consider Eli’s sons and Eli’s ineptitude, in their profaning of the House. Greater men have suffered colossal losses, how scantily we prepare for adversity. To ensure the safety of ourselves, our sons and our houses after us, for an eternity before us. Surely we are not dull to the magnitude of the issues at stake. The examples and warnings have already been given us. Do we truly care to know the LORD ourselves? What of, our calling; being called out and called to? Will we despise the need for study, for grooming, for discipline to be the heirs we were called to be? If heirs we are indeed?


"Now this is the commandment, the statutes and the rules that the LORD your God commanded me to teach you, that you may do them in the land to which you are going over, to possess it, that you may fear the LORD your God, you and your son and your son's son, by keeping all his statutes and his commandments, which I command you, all the days of your life, and that your days may be long. Hear therefore, O Israel, and be careful to do them, that it may go well with you, and that you may multiply greatly, as the LORD, the God of your fathers, has promised you, in a land flowing with milk and honey. "Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates. (Deut 6:1-9)



God bless




/ckh

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