We all have our ideas of what constitutes a good son. God blessed me with two, and for that, I am very thankful. We each want a son who is obedient, respectful, and loving. In Ephesians 6:1-3, we see one of the Ten Commandments reiterated “Children, obey your parents in the Lord: for this is right. Honor thy father and mother; (which is the first commandment with promise;) That it may be well with thee, and thou mayest live long on the earth.” While this commandment is primarily written to children, this must be taught by the parents. The first prerequisite to having a good son is for us to be good godly parents. We are to teach them what God says and teach them to obey His words. Today we will look at a well-known character in the Bible. I have read this passage in I Samuel 22 many times but never had I paid much attention to verses 3 and 4. David was known for many things in the Bible, but these show us he was also a good son.
I Samuel 22:3-4 “And David went thence to Mizpeh of Moab: and he said unto the king of Moab, Let my father and my mother, I pray thee, come forth, and be with you, till I know what God will do for me. And he brought them before the king of Moab: and they dwelt with him all the while that David was in the hold.”
David was in danger. Saul wanted him killed, and many times David had to run to stay safely away from Saul. In verses 3 and 4, his attention turns to his father and mother. He has been in the service of the king for several years and knows Saul well enough to understand Saul would do whatever he needed to do to find David, to flush him out from hiding so that he could take his life. What better way to bring a son out of hiding than to capture and threaten the life of his parents? David knows he cannot trust Saul. He goes to the king of Moab and begs for the king to shelter them and give them protection. David knew the king of Moab was an enemy to king Saul. He felt the king of Moab would be happy to oblige anyone who could thwart the plans of king Saul.
David with all of his faults and failures had proven to be a blessing to his parents. He was fulfilling Psalm 127:3-5 “Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb a reward. Like arrows in the hand of a warrior are the children of one’s youth. Blessed is the man who fills his quiver with them! He shall not be put to shame when he speaks with his enemies in the gate.” When children are thought of as a blessing from the Lord, it puts a different design on how we raise them. In Psalm 127:3-5, they are referred to as arrows in the hand of a warrior. Arrows are only of value when they hit the desired target. Our job as parents is to aim at raising them according to God’s design for their lives. Scripture will give us the pattern by direct command or through biblical principles. However, the design is only as good as the architect using it. If we try to leave out certain biblical blocks needed to build a godly child, we will create flaws in the character of the child. We must be committed to the study of the word and its application in our own lives.
In our world, the greatest problem with raising godly sons and daughters is most parents aren’t familiar with God’s design. Also, there are many who have been taught the biblical way to train a child, but they are too lazy or prideful to follow God’s design. We live in a world where many feel entitled to take it easy, to relax, to ignore, or push aside, being a consistent godly parent. They make excuses for their children’s disobedience rather than pushing forward to make sure their children obey or suffer the consequences of disobedience. God gives us a command to train our children to be good, godly children, which in turn produces good godly adults. None of us are perfect, we all make mistakes in parenting our children, but it is our responsibility to seek out God’s word and obey it. I know that every situation is different, and every family has dynamics that are different, but God has not changed, and He can and will help parents who seek to raise their children His way.
