Fathers, have you ever wondered whether you have an impact on your young children? Does it really matter what you teach them? Do they notice your words? Your actions?
God highlighted something this morning as I read from Proverbs to Tanner and Keaton. I was reading Proverbs 4, where you hear Solomon’s heart as he teaches his children. He writes “hear, my children, the instruction of a father….When I was my father’s son, tender and the only one in the sight of my mother, he also taught me….” Proverbs 4:1, 3.
Solomon spoke this to his children and his teachings were recorded and ultimately became Proverbs. He recounted to them a time when he was very young and King David, their grandfather, taught him. We learn that David taught Solomon about wisdom! Listen to David’s words:
Get wisdom! Get understanding! Do not forget, nor turn away from the words of my mouth. Do not forsake her, and she will preserve you; love her, and she will keep you. Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom.
Wow! I imagine Solomon being somewhere between 4 and 10 when David speaks such words to him. Perhaps he spoke such truths all throughout his youth. Regardless, these words that David spoke to Solomon at a young age clearly stuck with Solomon. Fast forward in time to 1 Kings 3, where God appears to Solomon at the beginning of his reign as King. God tells Solomon He will grant him one request. As Solomon pondered the Lord’s offer, David’s words rang in his ears – “Get wisdom! …love her and she will keep you. Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom.” And Solomon then responded to God with this request:
Give to your servant an understanding heart to judge Your people, that I may discern between good and evil.
Can you imagine how differently this story could have played out had David not taken time to teach Solomon what really matters? What would your children ask for if God told them to ask for anything? Do you want them to have Solomon’s heart and desires? Do you want them to be the kind of young men and women whom God could trust to offer such a gift?
Teach them! Teach them God’s ways! Just before God makes his offer to Solomon we learn that “Solomon loved the Lord, walking in the statutes of his father David….” 1 Kings 3:3. He didn’t do so perfectly, it says, but he had great love and remembered what his father taught him. So teach your children and know that it matters.