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Missing Heart? - Physically there sometime, but missing with heart!?!
"The Lord will send a prophet in the days before the great and dreadful day of the Lord."
The Lord sends prophets even now.
The prophets remind people of the good ways of life throughout the ages. The prophets remind the parents AND the descendants.
The prophet will turn the hearts of the fathers to their children.
The prophet will turn the hearts of the children to their father.
Likewise, the prophet will turn the hearts of the mothers to their children.
The prophet will turn the hearts of the children to their mothers.
Remember the plans for good and not for evil of the Lord.
1) Bring unblemished gifts to the Lord. Bring all of God's share.
2) Do not break faith with your marriage partner. (...if you are married. In all cases, honour the marriage of others.)
3) Hate divorce AND violence because the Lord hates both equally.
4) Be in awe of the Lord and honour the Lord's name. Guard yourself in your spirit.
5) Be healed, go out and leap!
6) Do what you do with God's love, not in spite of it.
You may vow that YOU will build something. But unless the Lord is part of the building, the Lord will demolish it. People like Edom should acknowledge the Lord in everything!
7) Preserve true knowledge and seek the Lord's messengers's instruction.
8) Know that the Lord will be great among all the nations, including of course Israel and Judah.
Have we not all one Father? Did not one God create us?
9) Do not oppress or defraud anyone--workers, widows, orphans, strangers, etc.
10 Do not marry followers of "a foreign God".
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King Solomon did not listen to all the prophets in his time. He is an example.
He was wise, but not with his son Rehoboam.
His heart did not turn to his son Rehoboam. The son is not mentioned at court. He is not mentioned in a position of learning or authority. He was not taught justice daily next to his father at court.
Maybe Naamah, Rehoboam's mother, the Ammonitess did not compare to Solomon's other wives and concubines.
Maybe Solomon hoped to have another son whom he could champion to be his successor.
Rehoboam would have felt that his father was "not turned to" him.
And therefore Rehoboam's heart did not turn to his father Solomon either.
He wanted to do everthing differently from his father.
He kept comparing himself to his father. I am stronger. I am deadlier, like a scorpion.
Solomon had maintained peace, even though he had adversaries in exile.
Rehoboam waged war continually even against the other co-tribes of Israel with 180,000 fighting men!
Solomon took advice from elders.
Rehoboam did not take advice from elders, some of whom must have been prophets, but from young "yes" men.
Rehoboam must have hated his father. He carried off the treasures of the temple of the Lord and the treasures of the Royal Palace. The accomplishments of his father that were dearest to him.
No more gold. That reminded him of his father. No--No--bronze shields had to be made.
Solomon did seek the will of the Lord and asked for wisdom. But...he married women who followed foreign gods.
Rehoboam not only permitted ritual prostitution but encouraged it by doing evil himself.
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In contrast,
King David seemed to have turned his heart to most of his children. But not all turned their hearts to him. If they didn't, then there was trouble.
David mourned a dying baby son intensely, his first son by Bathsheba.
The Lord sent him the prophet Nathan, who did not mince words.
David acknowledged the Lord and repented of his sin with Bathsheba. He accepted the consequences.
When David found out another son, Amnon, had taken advantage of him, King David was furious, and not INDIFFERENT. David found out his son "was sick". David cared about his son and asked Tamar, his daughter, to look after her sick half-brother. Except he was not really sick!
Tamar objected to Amnon's taking advantage of her. Soon Tamar went to live with another Brother Absalom. David asked about this "new" arrangement and found out what happened.
David left the new arrangement as is and did not talk about it, since others, especially Amnon and Absalom did not talk about it. Respecting her situation, means he would not have been indifferent.
The silence made Absalom turn his heart away from his father.
Absalom, an ambitious son, looked after Tamar and planned to avenge her. Absalom asked his father to have all his sons accompany him. He then murdered Amnon. Then a report came to David: "Absalom had struck down all the king's sons; not one of them is left." 2 Samuel 13:30
King David was not INDIFFERENT, he stood up tore his clothes and lay down on the ground. 2 Samuel 13:31
King David was not INDIFFERENT to his son Absalom. When Absalom was repentant, David forgave his son. The king (even)kissed Absalom, his son. 2 Samuel 14:33
David kept enquiring of his son. Absalom lived in the same city, but had no contact with his father for years. Absalom even made a bid to be king of just one of David's cities.
David still ordered those he commanded, even though Absalom continued to do wrong: "Protect the young man Absalom for my sake." 2 Samuel 18:12
Absalom was popular with the people.
David kept asking repeatedly of many different people: "Is the young man Absalom safe?"
Then David found out that Absalom had died. He was shaken. He wept. He wished that he had died instead of his son.
In his distress he called out to the Lord. 2 Samuel 22:7
The official report given earlier was not exactly right and true. Not all of David's sons had died. Solomon had not died by the hand of Absalom.
He and Adonijah were contenders to the throne by the time David died.
Adonijah did not turn his heart to his father David--he proclaimed himself king before his father had died.
David turned his heart to his son Solomon. He was a son of his favorite wife.
Solomon turned his heart to his father David. Solomon let his father decide who would succeed him instead of claiming the kingship early.
David gave Solomon his blessing by arranging his kingly anointing.
David gave Solomon his dream of building THE temple. He gave him the plans and materials!
Solomon built what his father David had planned, so he respectfully turned his heart to his father.
Solomon lived to enjoy the blessings of his father.
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Lord Jesus, help us so our hearts will be turned to our children.
Help our children to turn their hearts to their parents.
Do not let us harden our hearts!
Amen
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