‹ Back

1 Kings 22:53. "[Ahaziah the son of Ahab] served Baal and worshiped him, and provoked the Lord, the God of Israel, to anger in every way that his father had done."

 

Our duty as parents is so much more important than we often realize, or at least than I realized when I was beginning to have children. Our children are formed by us. If we worship false gods, most likely they will as well. I had children I was very young, by today's standards, and I was definitely not in the same place with God as I am now. I often wish I had known then what I know now and wonder if my children would be practicing their faith if I had. I certainly could have given them a better background in the faith than I did.

 

At the same time, though, we are all responsible for ourselves. God speaks to each one of us individually and calls us to Him. We can't use the excuse of our parents' mistakes to avoid having a relationship with Him. Fortunately, my children were baptized and raised in the faith, so they have it to come back to when the time is right. There are plenty of people who do not even have that, and I feel like what I can do now is use the understanding I have grown into to share the faith with them, when their time is right.

 

Ahab was a terrible king of Israel. His people had already been divided from their southern brethren, and from Jerusalem, they needed strong leaders to keep them in the truth. Instead, they got bad kings, like Ahab and his wife Jezebel, who worshiped Baal and led the people even further astray. Ahaziah, then, did not have an education in the faith on which to fall back, he only knew his father's ways. But Ahaziah was the king of Israel, he was educated, he knew their history, he knew they were the Chosen People, and he certainly knew of Elijah's showdown with the priests of Baal. He had enough information to know who the true God was and to turn back, and lead the people back, yet he was not wise nor strong enough to do so. In his role as king, he had stepped into a parental role with the people, he had a duty to learn the truth and teach it to them, just as our children do when they become parents themselves.

 

As we find ourselves in a time of many strange gods, we have to pray for ourselves and our children to know our history, hear God's call, and turn back to Him wholeheartedly. We do not have to beat ourselves up over our past mistakes, nor upbraid our children for theirs, we just have to remember who God is, and remember Him as He calls out to us through our history and our circumstances. This is how our families, our Church, and our world will get back on track.

 

-------------------------------------------------------------------

Related posts: 

 

The Waters Are Rising, Let's Save the Children https://mydaily.site/Evangelicia/The-Waters-Are-Rising-Lets-Save-the-Children/#wbb1

 

Stop Using Children to Fight Your Battles https://mydaily.site/Evangelicia/Stop-Using-Children-to-Fight-Your-Battles/#wbb1

 

A King Leads His People (One Way or Another) https://mydaily.site/Evangelicia/A-King-Leads-His-People-One-Way-or-Another/#wbb1

 

Leading Our Children to Slaughter https://mydaily.site/Evangelicia/Leading-Our-Children-to-Slaughter/#wbb1

 

We Have Not Been Telling Our Children the Truth https://mydaily.site/Evangelicia/We-Have-Not-Been-Telling-Our-Children-the-Truth/#wbb1

 

Did We Forget to Tell of the Lord to the Coming Generation? https://mydaily.site/Evangelicia/Did-We-Forget-to-Tell-of-the-Lord-to-the-Coming-Generation/#wbb1