Today’s Scripture: 2 Kings 18-21
But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve… But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord. – Joshua 24:15
When a child rebels against the Lord, the parents often turn the situation inward on themselves. “Where did we go wrong? How did I fail? Why couldn’t I have done better?” While it is true that we have a great influence on our children, there’s another side to the issue.
Hezekiah was a good king who did what was right in the sight of the Lord. Yet in 2 Kings 16, we read that Hezekiah’s father, Ahaz, lived according to the abominations of the heathen and sacrificed and burned incense to the pagan gods. In spite of having an evil father, Hezekiah was a good king because he made the right choices.
Now let’s look ahead to Hezekiah’s son, Manasseh. Because Hezekiah was such a godly man, we would expect his children to live in the fear of God. But when Manasseh became king, he did evil in the sight of the Lord. And while Manasseh’s son Amon also did evil, Amon’s son, Josiah, became a godly king.
How do we account for this strange pattern? Did the parents of those who did evil fail, or was it a problem of environment? Why did these children of godly kings turn their backs on God? Because God gives everyone a choice. He opens the way for each of us to follow Him, but He leaves the choice with us.
As Christian parents, we should love our children, set a godly example for them, pray for them, and do all we can to lead them along the path of obedience to the Lord. But if they choose another direction, even though it causes us tremendous grief, we should not spend the rest of our lives condemning ourselves for their choices.
Prayer
Lord, I want to follow You and do Your will for the rest of my life. Amen.
To Ponder
In the grace, mercy, and sovereignty of God, He has made us free to choose.
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