Trouble At Home

It is often easy to tell what really goes on at home when you are engaged or involved with the children. When I served as a Youth Pastor, the children would often reveal if things at home were as they “appeared to be”.   When people go out in public (such as a church function), they will put on their best face. I may know families who were fighting until they got to the church parking lot and then started smiling as soon as they got out their car. I think that this problem still exists today. One of the areas of concern when people were stuck in their homes during “shelter in place”, is that home was not a healthy environment.

Ahaziah’s home environment wasn’t good. He was the youngest of the king’s son and he became king at 22. As with a lot of young kings, the mother is mentioned. I think the mother is often mentioned because of her influence upon her son. Check this out….

² Ahaziah was twenty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem one year. His mother was Athaliah, a granddaughter of King Omri.³ Ahaziah also followed the evil example of King Ahab’s family, for his mother encouraged him in doing wrong. ⁴ He did what was evil in the Lord’s sight, just as Ahab’s family had done. They even became his advisers after the death of his father, and they led him to ruin.

¹⁰ When Athaliah, the mother of King Ahaziah of Judah, learned that her son was dead, she began to destroy the rest of Judah’s royal family. ¹¹ But Ahaziah’s sister Jehosheba, the daughter of King Jehoram, took Ahaziah’s infant son, Joash, and stole him away from among the rest of the king’s children, who were about to be killed. She put Joash and his nurse in a bedroom. In this way, Jehosheba, wife of Jehoiada the priest and sister of Ahaziah, hid the child so that Athaliah could not murder him. ¹² Joash remained hidden in the Temple of God for six years while Athaliah ruled over the land. (2 Chronicles 22:2-4, 10-12 NLT)

I remember learning as a young parent that, “Values are caught NOT taught”.  In others words, what you do screams so loudly, I can’t hear what you’re saying!”  Values are made clear in our everyday, walking around life.  I think our behavior ALWAYS reveals our values and beliefs.  I think these are principles to be lived by.  I enjoy being around real people. They are the same if they hold a big position of leadership or if your simply sitting on the front porch chatting.  I believe we should all be who we say we are or quit saying it.

The story of Ahaziah had a tough ending. He was killed when hanging out with Ahab’s wicked family. His mom turned out to be wicked too. God can make beauty from ashes. He can take my mess and make something beautiful come out of it. He can bring peace to trouble at home. The participants have to be willing to trust the Lord with their whole heart.  Heart work is the hardest work there is. It is deep and often really time consuming. Heart work is worth every ounce of effort, because all of my life flows from my heart.

Pressing On!

Dwayne