The Godly-Father

The Godly-Father; 1 Kings 2:1-4

In his book “Fatherhood”, Bill Cosby wrote, “Now that my father is a grandfather he just can’t wait to give money to my kids. But when I was a kid and I asked him for 50 cents, he would tell me the story of his life. How he got up at 5 a.m. when he was 7-years-old and walked 23 miles to milk 90 cows. And the farmer for whom he worked had no bucket, so he had to squirt the milk into his little hand and then walk 8 miles to the nearest can. All for 5 cents a day. The result was...I never got my 50 cents.”

“But now he tells my children every time he comes into the house, ‘Well, let’s see how much money old Granddad has for his wonderful grandkids.’ And the minute they take money out of his hands I call them over to me and I snatch it away from them. BECAUSE THAT’S MY MONEY.”

Being a parent and a father can be an interesting and trying experience.

Someone said, “Fathers spend the first part of a child’s life urging him to talk and walk, and the rest of his childhood telling him to sit down and keep quiet.”

A son who was in college wrote home to his dad. He said, “Dear Dad, Please let me hear from you more often, even if it’s only five or ten.”

One day a woman left her baby daughter in her husband’s care while she was busy doing some work in another room. He immediately buried himself in his newspaper, and forgot all about the baby until he heard a series of thumps, followed by a horrendous cry. Instantly he knew that the baby had fallen down the stairs. He called out to his wife, “Honey! Come quick! Our little girl just took her first 24 steps!”

Dads are very special people to their kids and they have a tremendous impact on their lives and in our society… Statistics:

25 million children do not live with their fathers. 63% of youth suicides are (FFH)

85% of children with behavior disorders are FFH 80% of rapists are FFH

71% of high school drop outs are FFH 70% of teen pregnancies are FFH

75% of all the youth in chemical abuse centers are FFH 85% of youths in prison are FFH

And there are some who say that dads are not important. I say dads are extremely important. Growing up I rarely saw my dad, my parents divorced when I was six; my dad had other things that took his time. In the past ten years we were closer than we had ever been, but it wasn’t near enough. I needed him when I was young, I needed his advice, I needed direction, but he wasn’t there to give it to me. And now having just lost my dad there’s emptiness within me that I cannot explain.

Dads are very important. Now, listen any man can have kids, but it takes a special person to be a Godly-father. A Father that is there for his kids, a father that gives godly advice, a father that gives his kids direction in life.

And that’s what King David did for his son Solomon. Now don’t misunderstand me, David made some critical errors in his life that had an adverse effect on his kids, but while he was on his death bed he gave Solomon some advice that we can all live by.

1. Be Strong

This sounds like something we tell out sons, doesn’t it. “Be strong. Stay tough. Hang in there. Don’t give up.” But it is good advice for all of us, regardless of gender.

Adrian Rogers tells about the man who bragged that he had cut off the tail of a man-eating lion with his pocketknife. When asked why he hadn’t cut off the lion’s head, the man replied: “Someone had already done that.”

It’s easy sometimes to be cocky, and pretend to be brave and strong, but what Solomon needed was true strength, strength that only God can give. That’s why Ephesians 6:10 tells us to, “Be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might.”

We live in a dangerous world and there are things that we fear, for example:

One summer evening, during a violent thunderstorm, a mother was tucking her small boy into bed. She was about to turn off the light when he asked with a tremor in his voice, “Mommy, will you sleep with me tonight?” The mother smiled and gave him a reassuring hug. “I can’t dear,” she said, “I have to sleep with Daddy.” A long silence was broken at last by a shaken little voice saying, “The big sissy.” THERE ARE THINGS WE FEAR IN LIFE --- BE STRONG.