FATHER, CRY FOR YOUR CHILDREN NOW -PART TWO

FATHER, CRY FOR YOUR CHILDREN NOW – PART TWO

 

 

Friends, we are back again, to conclude the message we started last time: Father, Cry for Your Children Now. And we read from 2 Samuel chapter 18. And we read from verse 32 to chapter 19 verse 4. But for the interest of time, let me read just verse 32.

2 Samuel 18:32

32 And the king said to the Cushite, “Is the young man Absalom safe?”

So the Cushite answered, “May the enemies of my lord the king, and all who rise against you to do harm, be like that young man!”

 

But in verse 33, King David, having received the message that Absalom was dead, wept bitterly.

2 Samuel 18:33

33 Then the king was deeply moved, and went up to the chamber over the gate, and wept. And as he went, he said thus: “O my son Absalom—my son, my son Absalom—if only I had died in your place! O Absalom my son, my son!”

 

PRAYER:

We come again, dear Father, and we are asking that You would breathe upon Your Word today, and that You would circumcise the hearts of my friends in radioland; that those who hear would be blessed as they obey…in Jesus Name. Amen!

 

Last time, we did say that the story we are discussing is the tragedy of a family in Israel – and not just an ordinary family: the family of a king; the royal family.

We tried to see the comparison and the contrast between David’s family and ours. We found some similarities: a family that consisted of father, mother, children with growing pains; a family that has joys and sorrows; and we also saw the contrast.

His family was quite different from ours, because in terms of status, it was a royal family; in terms of size, very large – because of the number of wives and the number of children and the concubines; in terms of social dynamics, it was a dysfunctional family. That family had experienced adultery, murder, rape, revenge killing, treason that led to a costly civil war. And that civil war cost so many Jewish lives. And sadly, the one who started it, Absalom, lost his life.

And the context of it was that David’s daughter, Tamar, the sister of Absalom, was raped by the half-brother Amnon. Absalom did not take it kindly; but he did not do anything – he did not say anything for two years. Then he arranged to kill Amnon to revenge the rape of his sister.

So, after that, Absalom escaped; because he also came from a royal family. The mother was a princess, the daughter of the King of Geshur. Absalom ran to his grandfather and was in this self-imposed exile for three years, until Joab the commander in Chief of the Jewish Army prevailed on the King to bring him back; and he did.

And when he came back the King refused to see him for two years; and in the meantime, as we saw last time, resentment and rebellion started building in Absalom. And he carefully craftily stole the hearts of the people of Israel until he declared himself king.

And of course David had to flee from Jerusalem. Later, a civil war ensued. In that war, Absalom was killed. And when David got the news of the death of Absalom he wept bitterly. And that is what informs the title of the message: Father, Cry for Your Children Now – especially in this season when we celebrate Father’s day or men’s day.

So last time, we looked at how we normally cry. We cry to ourselves: that leads to self-pity. We are sorry for ourselves and that does not do much good to us, because it gives us this feeling or this understanding that whatever is happening to us is peculiar. And we ask the question: why me? Why me?

We do not only cry to ourselves, we cry before people also. And we sad that crying before people will fetch us sympathy, or it serves your right. Some people say that. You know there are some people who are happy when others suffer.

And we say that sympathy is an emotional response. You feel sorry for somebody who is in trouble or who has a problem. But you do not fully understand what that person is feeling or is experiencing. It is not true for you to come to somebody who is sorrowing and you say, I understand how you feel: no – you can’t. Even if you have experienced something similar to that you still cannot say I understand what you are feeling. Sympathy is limited.

But the third way we cry (we are picking it up from there, from where we stopped last time): we cry to God. Crying to God produces empathy. There is a difference between sympathy and empathy. Crying to God produces not only empathy but action on the part of God. Empathy can best be described as feeling with a person rather than for him or her. In a sense, you place yourself in the person’s shoes, as it were, feeling what that person feels. A person in pain, physical or emotion, does not suffer alone if he gets empathy. But he is alone; he suffers alone, with sympathizers. God fully understands what we are going through, and therefore can empathize with us. He feels what we feel; and He does so most keenly.

No wonder He said to Moses, concerning Israel’s bondage in Egypt, I have surely seen the oppression of my people who are in Egypt, and have heard their cry, because of their taskmasters for I know their sorrows. So I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up from that land to a good and large land, to a land flowing with milk and honey. That is Exodus 3:7-8. That’s God who empathizes.

Jesus also shows us empathy. He said to Saul, Saul Saul, why are you persecuting me? That’s Acts 9:4. Yet Saul’s persecution was directed against the followers of Jesus. What Jesus was saying in effect is, the experience of my followers is my experience: I feel what they feel.

Crying for our children! How? We’ve seen how we should cry. We should cry to God and do so now. And crying to God is going to God in a heartfelt prayer.

Crying for our children when?

When do we cry for our children? We should cry to God for our children before it is too late. And when is it too late to cry to God for them? When death or God closes all doors of opportunity. And when is that time? That is the problem; no one knows. Therefore, the time to cry to God for our children is now; for God says, in 2 Corinthians 6:2,

2 Corinthians 6:2

“In an acceptable time I have heard you,
And in the day of salvation I have helped you.”

Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.

 

What is this cry to God? I alluded to it earlier. This cry to God is prayer – all kinds of prayer, and at all times; as we are instructed in Philippians 4:6 and 1 Thessalonians 5:17, where God says, pray without season.

Job prayed for his children regularly, in Job 1:5, because he said, maybe they have offended God, and I’m wasn’t aware of it. So he covered them in prayer.

Father, cry to God for your children now. But, it’is important that we pay attention to the content of our prayers. The content of our prayers is very important, because these days people make so much of prayer, but really if you examine the content of their prayers they are meaningless prayers.

Paul, as a spiritual father, prayed for his spiritual children. Three of his many prayers are very informative as to the content of our prayers for our children. And I would plead with you, friend, to take time to read these scriptures that I am going to give you now – samples of Paul’s prayers for his spiritual children:  Ephesians 1:15-23; Ephesians 3:14-21, and Colossians 1:9-12.

 

Because of the shortness of our time, radio time, we are not able to read these prayers, but let me read just one. Ephesians 3:14, the Apostle Paul praying for his spiritual children in Ephesus said,

Ephesians 3:14-20

14 For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ [that’s prayer], 15 from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named,

Now he is praying; listen to the content of his prayer:

 16 that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man, 17 that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, 18 may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height— 19 to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

 

See the content of his prayer! I do not believe in reading prayers, but if prayers would be read, these are the kinds, not the one that so-called prayer gurus are putting out to gullible followers today: mumble jumble prayers. Let us claim the content of these prayers of the Apostle Paul for his children.

Let’s claim them for our own children. Friends, may we start today to cry for our children.

 

 

PRAYER:

Thank You, Father, for the time we have spent together again. Lord, may You help especially the fathers in radioland, to take up their responsibilities, especially praying for their children, crying to You for their children now, before it is too late…in Jesus Name we pray. Amen!

 

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