{"id":68450,"date":"2024-06-19T10:57:08","date_gmt":"2024-06-19T15:57:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/?p=68450"},"modified":"2024-06-19T10:57:08","modified_gmt":"2024-06-19T15:57:08","slug":"a-fathers-helpful-words-to-his-son","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/a-fathers-helpful-words-to-his-son\/","title":{"rendered":"A Father\u2019s Helpful Words to His Son"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\t<p>by Gregory Roark<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>&#8220;<em>Now the days of David drew near that he should die, and he charged Solomon his son, saying: &#8216;I go the way of all the earth; be strong, therefore, and prove yourself a man. And keep the charge of the Lord your God: to walk in His ways, to keep His statutes, His commandments, His judgments, and His testimonies, as it is written in the Law of Moses, that you may prosper in all that you do and wherever you turn; that the Lord may fulfill His word which He spoke concerning me, saying, &#8220;If your sons take heed to their way, to walk before Me in truth with all their heart and with all their soul,&#8221; He said, &#8220;you shall not lack a man on the throne of Israel&#8221;&#8216;<\/em>&#8221; (I Kings 2:1-4).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Some ways in which David&#8217;s words helped his son:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>David expected his son to be a good and responsible man. Often, if expectations are not communicated to a young person, not much effort is made. He may not be striving towards a clear goal because there are no expectations given to him. David told his son, &#8220;<em>Prove yourself a man<\/em>&#8221;\u00a0and to keep the charge of the Lord (I Kings 2:2). Solomon could understand from his father that he needed to be a responsible man.<\/li>\n<li>David made clear the principles that his son should follow. Sometimes, children may have many goals, but what is most important is not emphasized. David instructed Solomon to &#8220;<em>walk in the Lord&#8217;s ways and to keep His statutes<\/em>&#8221; (I Kings 2:3). Solomon could understand from his father that it was important to learn and keep all the laws of God.<\/li>\n<li>David gave his son encouragement. He told him to &#8220;<em>be strong<\/em>&#8221; (I Kings 2:2). Also, David said to him that he would prosper and that the Lord would keep His word (I Kings 2:4). Solomon, in this way, not only knew what was expected but also that there would be a good outcome if he served the Lord. Solomon was assured by his father that he could trust the Lord in the future because He was faithful. If Solomon and his successors were faithful, the Lord would continue to allow the descendants of David to be on the throne of Israel (I Kings 2:4).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>I am thankful for the good things fathers do and have done for their sons and daughters.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>by Gregory Roark &#8220;Now the days of David drew near that he should die, and he charged Solomon his son, saying: &#8216;I go the way of all the earth; be strong, therefore, and prove yourself a man. And keep the charge of the Lord your God: to walk in His ways, to keep His statutes,&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[111,778,1657],"class_list":["post-68450","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-david","tag-father","tag-goals"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":38413,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-i-would-say-to-my-children\/","url_meta":{"origin":68450,"position":0},"title":"What I Would Say To My Children","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 30, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jefferson David Tant Raising children is, I believe, one of the greatest responsibilities God has given us. By God's design, a man and a woman have created something which will never cease to exist - a spirit that has been made in the image of God. Can you imagine\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Article&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":21367,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-could-jesus-be-the-son-of-man-the-son-of-david-and-the-son-of-god\/","url_meta":{"origin":68450,"position":1},"title":"How could Jesus be the son of man, the son of David, and the son of God?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 27, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Why did people call Jesus as Son of David and Son of Man when he was neither born to any man or to anyone in the Davidic line? Were they fooling or flattering him, or is it true? If it is true can you give concrete answers? Who is\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Answer&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2785,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-did-david-and-jonathan-show-their-love-for-each-other\/","url_meta":{"origin":68450,"position":2},"title":"How did David and Jonathan show their love for each other?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 30, 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: How did David and Jonathan show their concern (love) for one another? Can we act like them too? Answer: \"The soul of Jonathan was knit to the soul of David, and Jonathan loved him as his own soul\" (I Samuel 18:1). They made a covenant with each other \"Then\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Answer&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":94776,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-man-who-would-not-listen-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":68450,"position":3},"title":"The Man Who Would Not Listen","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 26, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"by David Gibson In Spite of ... King Zedekiah had at least two positive influences in his life that should have prompted him to make wiser choices. His father Josiah was one of the most godly kings Judah ever had. And Jeremiah, God's prophet, tried repeatedly to persuade Zedekiah to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Article&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Not-Listening-300x201.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":89397,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-man-who-would-not-listen\/","url_meta":{"origin":68450,"position":4},"title":"The Man Who Would Not Listen","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 13, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by David Gibson In spite of ... King Zedekiah had at least two positive influences in his life that should have prompted him to make wiser choices. His father, Josiah, was one of the most godly kings Judah ever had. And Jeremiah, God's prophet, tried repeatedly to persuade Zedekiah to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Article&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":4329,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-judaism-calvinistic\/","url_meta":{"origin":68450,"position":5},"title":"Is Judaism Calvinistic?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 28, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Does the Jewish religion teach predestination, foreordination and election? Do they teach that David was born in sin? Do they teach that God hates some people before they were born just because He hated Esau before he was born? Answer: Modern day Judaism is divided into three main sects\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Answer&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68450","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=68450"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68450\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=68450"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=68450"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=68450"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}