11
David and Sons:
how not to do it!

1 Kings 1
1. In his old age King David was confined to his bed; but no matter how many blankets were heaped upon him, he was always cold…
5. At about that time, David's son Adonijah (his mother was Haggith) decided to crown himself king in place of his aged father. So he hired chariots and drivers and recruited fifty men to run down the streets before him as royal footmen.
6. Now his father, King David, had never disciplined him at any time - not so much as by a single scolding! He was a very handsome man, and was Absalom's younger brother.
7. He took General Joab and Abiathar the priest into his confidence, and they agreed to help him become king.
LB

This incident in the life of the nation of Israel gives us a picture of the kind of disconnect-of-heart that can happen between generations in a family.

David himself had contributed massively to the disconnect-of-heart between himself and his sons.
Verse 6 tells us that David had NEVER disciplined his son Adonijah at any time in Adonijah's life. And if this was so concerning Adonijah, it was probably true concerning David's relationship with his other sons also.

No wonder there was so little natural affection between David and Absalom that, Absalom could consider running his father out of the country and taking his father's place as head of the nation!

These sons interpreted David's not disciplining them as a sign that he didn't really love them. David probably never disciplined them because he never spent enough time with them to be able even to correct them one time!
How sad!

This is parental neglect. Absalom and Adonijah knew who their father was and what their own status was as princes in the kingdom, but the heart-connection between father and sons was non-existent!

This is what can cause the curse that breaks up the family: lack of natural affection between generations! This breaks hearts and needs to be mended.

Prayer:
Father, today I lift my family before You and ask that You touch all the members of my family and cause our hearts to be mended and knit back together, so that we can have a heart-connection with You and with each other,
in Jesus' name,
Amen.