Articles
All in All
ALL IN ALL
By Steve Melton, August 25, 2024
Our God is all In all.
He is first in all His creation.
His power is beyond understanding.
It defies all human explanation.
God is the first architect and engineer.
He structured the universe with great design.
Atomic particles and galaxies were made.
He also invented time.
God was the first chemist.
He combined the elements in every combination.
Then made them into a form.
God created life with precise calculation.
God was the first artist.
Sculptured the mountains and sea.
Then took color and light.
And painted every flower and tree.
God is the only giver of life.
His attributes we ever extol.
But, what surpasses them all.
He created our very soul.
Providing for Eighty-Eight Children
By Paul R. Blake
When the nation of Israel divided into two kingdoms, Israel in the north and Judah in the south, Rehoboam served as king over the southern kingdom of Judah. It was a time of great turmoil and sorrow among the people of God, but for the most part, Rehoboam was a wise king and successfully guided the nation through it. (2Chronicles 11)
In response to the rebellion of the northern ten tribes led by Jereboam, Rehoboam put together an army of 180,000 soldiers to go north and quash the rebels. God sent Shemaiah the prophet to tell him not to fight against their brothers because this matter was turning out to serve God’s purposes. Rehoboam obeyed.
However, this wise king made provisions to protect Judah. He fortified fifteen strategic cities throughout Judah and filled them with stores of food and weapons against future attacks against the southern kingdom. He organized the best soldiers Judah and Benjamin had to offer into ranks and placed captains over each of the fortified cities. He even arranged for his sons to be placed in some of these strongholds to ensure his policies for the protection of the land were carried out. He was careful to prepare for his successor as king by placing his son Abijah, born to Maachah his favorite wife, as leader among his brothers, training him to be king. Judah would have a well prepared heir to the throne.
The king imitated his father and took multiple wives. He had eighteen wives and sixty concubines who gave him twenty-eight sons and sixty daughters. Nevertheless, Rehoboam was diligent to make provisions for this rather large family. He gave them positions of responsibility throughout the kingdom and gave them supplies in abundance. He was careful to select wives for them to ensure that the royal line would continue. As a good father provides for his children, so Rehoboam set the example before the nation as one who took care of all 88 of his children. He saw to it that they were fed, clothed, housed educated, occupied, and married.
Rehoboam even made an effort at providing for the spiritual well-being of Judah and for his children. He welcomed all of the Levites fleeing religious persecution from the north, as Jereboam replaced the priests of God with pagans. For three years, Rehoboam supported the priests of God and endorse the worship of Jehovah… for three years… and then…
“Now it came to pass, when Rehoboam had established the kingdom and had strengthened himself, that he forsook the law of the LORD, and all Israel along with him… So Shishak king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem, and took away the treasures of the house of the LORD and the treasures of the king's house; he took everything” (2Chron. 12:1, 9).
Jesus said in Mark 8:36, “For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?” How many fathers are careful, just like Rehoboam, to provide for the physical, social, education, and economic needs of their children, and then neglect the most important need of the child -- his spiritual growth and development? After Rehoboam saw to it that his 88 children were covered materially, he abandoned his provisions for their ongoing spiritual needs. As a result, God undid all of his material provisions.
Of what value will be all of the food, clothes, shelter, medical care, and education fathers give their children, when the Lord says to them in Judgment, “Depart from me; I never knew you.”? Will fathers consider themselves to be good providers when their children are sent into perdition? Will God be moved by their protests: “I saw to it that they never went hungry; I made certain they did their schoolwork; I taught them how to catch a baseball; I instilled a good work ethic in them!”? Rehoboam made provisions for the temporary bodies of his 88 children; he made only three years of provision for their eternal souls. Fathers, how attentive are you to the souls of the children God placed in your care? “And you, fathers, do not provoke your children to wrath, but bring them up in the training and admonition of the Lord” (Eph. 6:4).
A Moments Wisdom on Children
--If you want children to keep their feet on the ground, put some responsibility on their shoulders.
--Children will not remember you for the material things you provided them, but for the feeling that you cherished them.
--Children are more likely to close their ears to advice and open their eyes to examples.
--It is not easy for children to practice better manners than they see at home.
--It is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men.
--Do not handicap your children by making their lives too easy.
--Children cannot be made good by making them happy, but they can be made happy by making them good.
--Have you any idea how many kids it takes to turn off one light in the kitchen? Three. It takes one to say, “What light?” and two more to say, “I didn't turn it on.”
--“When we choose to be parents, we accept another human being as part of ourselves, and a large part of our emotional selves will stay with that person as long as we live. From that time on, there will be another person on this earth whose orbit around us will affect us as surely as the moon affects the tides, and affect us in some ways more deeply than anyone else can. Our children are extensions of ourselves.” (Fred Rogers)
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