Discipline Your Children

731 Today's Prime Time Devo comes from 1Ki 1:5,6 Then Adonijah the son of Haggith exalted himself, saying, "I will be king"; and he prepared for himself chariots and horsemen, and fifty men to run before him. 6 (And his father had not rebuked him at any time by saying, "Why have you done so?" He was also very good-looking. His mother had borne him after Absalom.) Adonijah. The fourth son of David, born from his 5th wife Haggith. A handsome young man, with plenty of clout, and with Absalom out of the way. He assumed that he would ascend to the throne occupied by his father. The only problem with his assumption is he forgot the word of the Lord that came to David concerning Solomon. 1Ch 22:9,10 says, “'Behold, a son shall be born to you, who shall be a man of rest; and I will give him rest from all his enemies all around. His name shall be Solomon, for I will give peace and quietness to Israel in his days. 10 'He shall build a house for My name, and he shall be My son, and I will be his Father; and I will establish the throne of his kingdom over Israel forever.' Quick lesson for all of us. How quick we can be to forget the Word of the Lord when it interferes with our own desires for self advancement and pleasure. How blind we can be even to lessons from the past. Adonijah's story is a mirror image of the story of Absalom which had a tragic ending, but it did not stop Adonijah from pursuing the same course. He, like Absalom, prepared for himself chariots and horsemen, and fifty men to run before him. The people would see this display of self-importance, and certainly notice how handsome he looked, and how he would be like Saul, a king to be desired. Things were looking good for still another spoiled child of David's. For we are told that David never corrected his behavior. The end result though was an untimely death for Adonijah. Parents. It can be difficult to discipline our children, we want them to have the world, but sometimes we need to learn to say no to their unhealthy desires and behaviors. Pr 29:17 says, Correct your son, and he will give you rest; Yes, he will give delight to your soul. Father, help us to understand the importance of loving discipline.