II Chronicles 36
Jehoahaz king of Judah under Egypt verse 1- 4
Then the people of the land took Jehoahaz the son of Josiah
and made him king in his father’s stead in Jerusalem
Jehoahaz was twenty and three years old when he began to reign
and he reigned THREE MONTHS in Jerusalem
and the king of Egypt put him down in Jerusalem
and condemned the land in an hundred talents of silver
and a talent of gold
And the king of Egypt made Eliakim his brother
king over Judah and Jerusalem
and turned his name to Jehoiakim
And Necho took Jehoahaz his brother – and carried him to Egypt
Jehoiakim king of Judah under Nebuchadnezzar verse 5- 8
Jehoiakim was twenty and five years old when he began to reign
and he reigned ELEVEN years in Jerusalem
and he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD his God
against him came up Nebuchadnezzar – king of Babylon
and bound him in fetters – to carry him to Babylon
Nebuchadnezzar also carried of the vessels of the house of the LORD to Babylon
and put them in his temple at Babylon
Now the rest of the acts of Jehoiakim – and his abominations which he did
and that which was found in him – BEHOLD
they are written in the book of the kings of Israel and Judah
and Jehoiachin his son reigned in his stead
Jehoiachin king of Judah under Nebuchadnezzar verse 9- 10
Jehoiachin was EIGHT YEARS OLD (eighteen) when he began to reign
and he reigned THREE MONTHS AND TEN DAYS in Jerusalem
and he did that which was EVIL in the sight of the LORD
and when the year was expired – King Nebuchadnezzar sent
and brought him to Babylon with the goodly vessels
of the house of the LORD
and made Zedekiah his brother (uncle) king over
Judah and Jerusalem
Zedekiah king of Judah rebels
against Nebuchadnezzar verse 11- 13
Zedekiah was one and twenty years old when he began to reign
and reigned ELEVEN years in Jerusalem
and he did that which was EVIL in the sight of the
LORD his God
and HUMBLED NOT himself before Jeremiah the prophet
speaking from the mouth of the LORD
and he also rebelled against king Nebuchadnezzar
who had made him swear by God
BUT he stiffened his neck
and hardened his heart from turning to the
LORD God of Israel
Priests and people unfaithful to the LORD verse 14
Moreover all the chief of the priests – and the people
transgressed very much after all the abominations of the heathen
and polluted the house of the LORD which HE had
hallowed in Jerusalem
People mocked the LORD’s messengers of warning verse 15- 16
And the LORD God of their fathers sent to them by HIS messengers
rising up betimes – and sending
BECAUSE HE had compassion on HIS people
and on HIS dwelling place
BUT they MOCKED the messengers of God and DESPISED HIS words
and MISUSED HIS prophet until the wrath of the LORD
arose against HIS people till there was NO REMEDY
Babylonians destroy Jerusalem verse 17- 20
Therefore HE brought on them the king of the Chaldees
who slew their young men with the sword in the house of their sanctuary
and had NO compassion on young man – maiden – old man
him that stooped for age HE gave them all into his hand
And all the vessels of the house of God – great and small
and the treasures of the house of the LORD
and the treasures of the king – and of his princes
all these he brought to Babylon
And they burnt the house of God – and brake down the wall of Jerusalem
and burnt all the palaces thereof with fire
and destroyed all the goodly vessels thereof
and them that had escaped from the sword carried he away
to Babylon where they were servants to him
and his sons until the
reign of the kingdom of Persia
Land of Israel had Sabbath rest for 70 years verse 21
To FULFILL the word of the LORD by the mouth of Jeremiah
until the land had enjoyed her Sabbaths
for as long as she lay desolate she kept Sabbath
to FULFILL threescore and ten years [70]
Cyrus king of Persia confirms word of Jeremiah verse 22- 23
Now in the first year of Cyrus – king of Persia
that the word of the LORD spoken by the mouth of Jeremiah
might be accomplished
The LORD stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia
that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom
and put it also in writing
saying
Thus says Cyrus – king of Persia
All the kingdoms of the earth has the LORD God of heaven
given me
AND HE has charge me to build HIM a house in Jerusalem
which is Judah
Who is there among you of all HIS people?
The LORD his God be with him – and let him go up
COMMENTARY:
DAILY SPIRITUAL BREAKFAST: Young Believers
: 9 Jehoiachin was eight years old when he began to reign, and he reigned three months and ten days in Jerusalem: and he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD. (7451 “evil” [ra’] means wickedness, badly made, morally objectionable behavior, disagreeable, unwholesome, troubled, or adversity.)
DEVOTION: If I compare an eight year old today with when I was eight years old there would be many differences today. At eight I was the oldest of four of five children in our home. At that age we were only doing things which children at that day and age did. We had TV but it was black and white. We had school that we attended that was a Lutheran School, so I learned Bible verses and the classes were small and I knew all the other students.
Today we find that eight years olds can change the channels on the television and know the code to even get the stations that the parents might not want them to see. There are more activities that are available but many still want to sit home and do nothing but play games and watch TV. We would be outside because there was not much on the television except on Saturday mornings.
Life was different between those who are twelve today and those who were twelve in the 1950s. It was simpler. Today it is not simple. Life is very complex even for young children.
This was true in the days of Jehoiachin. The Bible says that he was only eight years old but did evil in the sight of the LORD. It was the adults around him that caused this to happen. Many times as we read the Old Testament it was the mother or grandmother of the child that caused him to make decisions that didn’t please the LORD.
It is so hard to realize that an eight year old has to answer to the LORD for his actions. Yet the Bible teaches that all of us have to answer to the LORD once we reach the age of accountability. This is different for every child but each child has to make decisions that affect the rest of their lives.
We need to be teaching children who are young to understand the Word of God and help them make a good decision regarding their relationship to the LORD. Parents have the greatest responsibility. Grandparents have the responsibility if the parents are not guiding them to follow the LORD.
Our prayers should be with the children of our world. The world wants them to forget the God of the Bible. It is up to those who are genuine believers to train their children and grandchildren to love the LORD with all their heart.
CHALLENGE: What are we doing to help the children around us to know the LORD? What are we doing for our children and grandchildren to help them make a wise decision regarding the LORD?
DAILY SPIRITUAL LUNCH: Transitional Believers
: 12 And he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD his God, and humbled not himself before Jeremiah the prophet from the mouth of the LORD. (3665 “humbled” [kana‘] means subdue, bring low, subjection, submit, to reduce in rank, character or status, cause silence, or to behave oneself submissively.)
DEVOTION: Here we have a king that was not willing to change even as he watched the former king being taken into captivity for not serving the LORD the way HIM wanted him too. He only reigned for three months. The problem was he did evil in the sight of the LORD. This was the ultimate reason for Jehoahaz being taken to Egypt.
Now we have Jehoiakim reigning in Judah and he follows the same course of not serving the LORD but doing evil in HIS sight. He reigned eleven years before the king of Babylon took him to Babylon in chain.
Finally we have Jehiachin as king of Judah at the age of eighteen and him doing evil in the sight of the LORD. The LORD sent Jeremiah the prophet to speak to him about serving the LORD and he would not listen. He was not willing to humble himself before the LORD.
This is a warning to us about our relationship to the LORD. We can have family members who are not willing to humble themselves before the LORD. We can three generations or more of individuals in our family who are not willing to follow the LORD but that is no excuse for us not coming to know the LORD. Each individual has to make a choice regarding their relationship to the LORD. The LORD does send people who love HIM into our lives but that doesn’t mean that we are going to change but we will have to answer to the LORD for our lack of change.
The LORD is looking for religious people to change their ways and humble themselves before the LORD. Most are worshiping the wrong god. Some think they are worshiping the God of the Bible but in reality they are not!!
CHALLENGE: Remember that the LORD doesn’t want us to do EVIL and think it is OK with HIM.
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: 14 Moreover all the chief of the priests, and the people, transgressed very much after all the abominations of the heathen; and polluted the house of the LORD which HE allowed in Jerusalem. (2930 “polluted” [tame’] means to become ceremonially unclean, to defile, desecrate, to make morally or ritually impure, pollute, or to defile.)
DEVOTION: What is really tragic is when the followers of the LORD decide to follow the world rather than the LORD. People know what the Bible teaches and yet follow the practices of the world and think that they are good with God. Fruit is what the LORD looks at to see what is going on in the lives of those who claim to be HIS followers. It is never good works that save anyone. It is only the blood of Jesus Christ that can save anyone.
The LORD knows our hearts. Here we find that the hearts of those who were leading the people were unfaithful to the LORD. They were willing to make other gods more important than the LORD.
This can happen anytime in any church. We have men who have been trained to be CEO’s in many churches rather than good expositors of the Word of God. Leadership has turned in company business rather than the LORD’S business done on the knees of leaders and in searching the Scriptures to see what they have to say about an issue.
These priests in the Old Testament led the people away from the true teachings of the LORD into the teachings of false gods. It was more economically profitable to them and today’s leaders are finding this true as well.
People support leaders who tell them what they want to hear. This is wrong and sinful. The leaders will be held to a higher standard than the people and will be judged accordingly.
There are degrees of punishment in hell just like there are degrees of rewards and crowns for those who follow the LORD. Our goal should be to serve the LORD faithfully in spite of the leaders we hear in our pulpits, on our radios and on our televisions who are not preaching the Gospel of the New Testament but their own gospel of health and wealth.
Watch who you are listening to and reading even when they call themselves Christian. CHALLENGE: Check their teachings out in the Word of God from Genesis to Revelation.
DAILY SPIRITUAL SUPPER: Mature Believers
: 16 But they mocked the messengers of God, and despised his words, and misused his prophets, until the wrath of the LORD arose against his people, till there was no remedy. (4397 “messengers” [mal’ak] means to dispatch as a deputy, ambassador, angel, king, or representative.)
DEVOTION: Are we good listeners? Do we listen to the Word of God and those who proclaim it? The way we can tell if someone is from the LORD is that they only speak in accordance with the Word of God, which is the Bible.
In the Old Testament there was a test for any prophet who said they came from the LORD. What was the test? They had to be 100 % accurate. If they were not one hundred percent accurate, they were a false prophet. We have had someone predict dates of the return of the LORD and been wrong twice so far. That makes him a false prophet.
God is sovereign. God knows the future. God has a plan for eternity past and present and future. HE puts up kings and kingdoms. HE takes kings and kingdoms down. HE sends representatives to HIS people to warn them of their sin and coming judgment.
Here we have the representatives of God coming to the people of God with a message from God and they didn’t listen. They came often and early. They were misused and despised.
The ambassadors are not promised a rose garden when they deliver the message of God. Even through the representatives were not listened to, God’s plan was going to happen. The land of Israel was going to celebrate their Sabbaths in desolation because the people didn’t celebrate their Sabbaths properly. The land had rest. The people of God had captivity for 70 years.
We should not expect peace and tranquility when we try to stay true to the Word of God today. Our world is not Christian. A large number of churches are not willing to follow the Word of God as they should but would rather be politically correct.
There is only one true God and HIS name is I AM. Christ came and said he was I AM. There is only one way to become a follower of the one true God and that is through the blood of Jesus Christ.
The message of the New Testament is true. Salvation is based on the gospel, which is the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ. No other message is acceptable. If a church or individual try to give any other message than the gospel, then judgment of God is coming on him or her. Keep the message pure.
The result of not listening is eternity in a literal hell for eternity. Are we listening to the Word of God and HIS representatives? Are we spreading the proper message around the world? One of the purposes of Small Church Ministries is to knock holes in the darkness of this world by spreading the Word of God daily.
CHALLENGE: Listen to God’s ambassadors. Test them with the Word of God. If their message is true – OBEDIENCE is necessary. Disobedience means bondage. All nations can go into bondage. You have been warned!!!
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: 23 Thus said Cyrus, king of Persia, All the kingdoms of the earth has the LORD God of heaven given me; and HE has charged me to build HIM an house in Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Who is there among you of all HIS people? The LORD his God be with him, and let him go up. (6485 “charged” [paqad] means visited, appointed, oversee, to pay attention to, attend to, assigned, or lay upon as a charge.)
DEVOTION: It is really important for us to understand how God works with the heathen to do HIS bidding throughout the Old and New Testament. Here is an example of HIS work with a heathen king who is acknowledging that the LORD has given him an appointed task. He was to have a new Temple built in Jerusalem.
The seventy years of captivity of the children of Israel was over and now a new nation has come into power over Babylon. God is working on the king to make sure that the people return to the Promise Land again.
They were judged for their sin. It is because of their sin that they are under the power of a heathen king. Disobedience is something that the LORD doesn’t accept in HIS people. HE warned them through the prophets but they didn’t want to listen. HE gave them the reason for their captivity and they still didn’t care until they were in captivity and then they mourned their loss. This is covered in the prophets that we will be studying in the future as we come to the end of the twelve historical books of the Old Testament.
We still have the books of Ezra, Nehemiah and Esther to cover as they give us more insight into the working of the LORD with HIS stubborn people.
We are HIS children today and we don’t fall to far from the same tree as our fellow Old Testament believer who were looking forward to the coming of the LORD.
The LORD has arrived and we have different promises given. We don’t have a promised land here on this earth but we have a mansion prepared for us in heaven. Our treasures are to be laid up there instead of here. Our service is different in that we don’t offer animal sacrifice but our bodies as a living sacrifice of service to the LORD while we have breath in them.
Are we being obedient to the LORD today? Could we go into captivity as our nation is moving further and further away from honoring the Word of God and the Savior that is taught about in that Bible?
CHALLENGE: We have to understand that the LORD uses heathen leaders to correct HIS people because they are not being obedient to HIS commands!!
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DISCIPLINES OF THE FAITH:
BODY
Chastity (Purity in living)
Fasting (Time alone with LORD without eating or drinking)
Sacrifice (Giving up something we want to serve the LORD)
Submission (Willing to listen to others and LORD)
Solitude (Going to a quiet place without anyone)
SOUL
Fellowship (Gathering together around the Word of God)
Frugality (wise use of resources)
Journalizing (Writing down what you have learned from the LORD)
Written in the book of the
kings of Israel and Judah verse 8
Study and Meditation (Thinking through your study in the Word)
Secrecy (Doing your good deeds without others knowing but God)
SPIRIT
Celebration (Gathering around a special occasion to worship LORD)
Confession (Tell the LORD we are sorry for our sins on a daily basis)
Prayer (Conversation with God on a personal level)
Silence (Letting the LORD deal with some problems and needs)
Worship (Time to praise the LORD alone or in a group)
Goodly vessels of the house of the LORD verse 10
Priests verse 14
Transgressed very much
Abominations of the heathen
Polluted the house of the LORD
House of the LORD verse 14, 18
House of God verse 18
Vessels taken by to Babylon
Burned by Chaldees
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DOCTRINES OF THE FAITH:
Scripture (66 inerrant books of the Bible)
Book of the kings of Judah and Israel verse 8
Word of the LORD fulfilled verse 12, 21- 23
Jeremiah verse 12, 21
Messengers verse 15, 16
Fulfil the Word of the LORD verse 21
Word of the LORD verse 22
God the Father (First person of the Godhead)
LORD – Jehovah (Covenant keeping, Personal) verse 5, 7, 9, 10, 12,
14- 16, 21- 23
God – Elohim (Creator, Sovereign) verse 5, 13, 15, 16,
18, 19, 23
Sight of the LORD his God verse 5, 12
House of the LORD verse 7, 10, 14, 18
Sight of the LORD verse 9
Mouth of the LORD – Jeremiah verse 12
LORD God of Israel verse 13
LORD God of their fathers verse 15
Messengers of God verse 16
Wrath of the LORD verse 16
No remedy
House of God verse 18, 19
Word of the LORD verse 21, 22
Jeremiah
Captivity for 70 years verse 21
LORD God of heaven verse 23
LORD his God verse 23
God the Son (Second person of the Godhead –God/man, Messiah)
God the Holy Spirit (Third person of the Godhead – our comforter)
Trinity (Three persons of the Godhead who are co-equal = ONE God)
Angels (Created before the foundation of the world – Good and Evil)
Man (Created on the sixth twenty-four hour period of creation)
King of Egypt: Necho verse 3, 4
Made Jehoahaz’s brother king of Judah
renamed him Jehoiakim
Paid 7,500 pounds of silver
75 pounds of gold in tribute by Judah
Took Jehoahaz to Egypt verse 4
Nebuchadnez – king of Babylon verse 6, 7, 10, 13
carried Jehoiakim to Babylon
carried vessels of house the LORD to Babylon
put them in his temple in Babylon
brought Jehoiachin to Babylon
carried more goodly vessels to Babylon
made Zedekiah king of Judah and Jerusalem
Heathen verse 14
King of the Chaldees (Babylon) verse 17, 18
killed with no compassion
all vessels of Temple taken to Babylon
burnt house of God
broke down wall of Jerusalem
burnt all the palaces
destroyed all the goodly vessels
carried people to Babylon
brought of house of the LORD to Babylon
burnt house of God
Reign of the Persians verse 20- 23
Cyrus – king of Persia
Acknowledge LORD
Charged to build a Temple
LORD stirred up spirit of Cyrus
Sin (Missing the mark set by God on man and angels)
Evil verse 5, 9, 12
Abominations verse 8, 14
Humbled not verse 12
Rebelled verse 13
Break word swore in God’s name verse 13
Stiffened his neck verse 13
Hardened his heart verse 13
Chief of the priest transgressed verse 14
People transgressed verse 14
Polluted house of the LORD verse 14
Mocked messengers of God verse 16
Despised God’s word verse 16
Misused God’s prophets verse 16
Killing innocent people verse 17
Salvation (Provided by Christ’s death on the cross for our sins)
Hallowed verse 14
Messengers of compassion verse 15
Compassion verse 15
Word of God fulfilled verse 21, 22
Land enjoyed Sabbaths in future verse 21
LORD with HIS people verse 23
Israel (Old Testament people of God)
Jehoahaz verse 1- 4
King in Jerusalem
23 years old when he began his reign
Reigned 3 months in Jerusalem
Taken to Egypt
Eliakim make king by king of Egypt verse 3- 8
Name changed to Jehoiakim
25 years old and reigned 11 years
Did evil in sight of the LORD
Abominations
Jehoiachin verse 9
Reigned 3 months and 10 days
Evil in the sight of the LORD
Brought to Babylon
Zedekiah -brother of Jehoiachin king verse 10
21 years old when he began to reign
and reigned 12 years
Did evil in sight of the LORD
Humbled not himself
Rebelled against Nebuchadnezzar
Stiffened his neck
Hardened his heart
Jeremiah the prophet verse 12, 21, 22
speaking with mouth of the LORD
LORD fulfilled word spoken by
seventy years fulfilled
LORD sent messengers verse 15
No remedy verse 16
People carried to Babylon verse 20
Church (New Testament people of God)
Last Things (Future Events)
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QUOTES regarding passage
36:23 The decree of Cyrus is found in a longer form in Ezra 1:2–4; 6:2–5. As regularly happened in decrees in the ancient Near East, the one who issued a decree claimed that the God of the people in whose favor the decree was issued had instructed the decree maker to act in a particular way. This was a useful public relations exercise. The particular interest for Israel was that the Lord had appointed Cyrus to build a temple for him in Jerusalem. In fact, the tabernacle and the first and second temples were all built in part with funds provided by Gentile nations. Cyrus’s authorization for the rebuilding of the temple included not only the building but also the return of the implements taken from the first temple by Nebuchadnezzar and the funding of the project from the Persian treasury (Ezra 6:4–5).
The book thus ends with the possibility of a new exodus. As God had once forced the hand of a reluctant pharaoh, now he moved the heart of a Persian king. The Book of Chronicles thus ends with the promise that the people of God would again go free to build a sanctuary where they could worship him in the land he had promised to their ancestors. (Thompson, J. A. (1994). 1, 2 Chronicles (Vol. 9, p. 392). Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers.)
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Charge: The basic meaning is to exercise oversight over a subordinate, either in the form of inspecting or of taking action to cause a considerable change in the circumstances of the subordinate, either for the better or for the worse. (Harris, R. L., Archer, G. L., Jr., & Waltke, B. K. (Eds.). (1999). Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament. Chicago: Moody Press.)
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21 The statement that for “seventy years … in fulfillment of the word of the Lord spoken by Jeremiah” (cf. on v.7) “the land enjoyed its sabbath rests” seems to correlate the full span of the Exile with an equivalent number of sabbatical years (Lev 25:1–7; 26:34). This produces a total figure of 70 times 7 or 490 years; and the idea is that of making up for half a millennium of neglected sabbatical rests (G.F. Oehler, Theology of the Older Testament [Grand Rapids: Zondervan, n.d.], p. 34). (Payne, J. B. (1988). 1, 2 Chronicles. In F. E. Gaebelein (Ed.), The Expositor’s Bible Commentary: 1 & 2 Kings, 1 & 2 Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther, Job (Vol. 4, p. 559). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House.)
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36:21. The historian then observed that the land of Judah at last enjoyed its Sabbath rests, a period of 70 years prophesied by Jeremiah (cf. Jer. 29:10). This probably refers to the approximately 70-year period from the first deportation under Nebuchadnezzar (605 b.c.) to the rebuilding of the temple foundation by the returning exiles in 536 (cf. Dan. 9:2; Ezra 1:1). Since Israel and Judah had failed to keep the sabbatical years (every seventh year the land was supposed to lie fallow, Lev. 25:1–7) throughout her history, the Lord would enforce on the land a 70-year “sabbath” (cf. Lev. 26:34–35). (Merrill, E. H. (1985). 2 Chronicles. In J. F. Walvoord & R. B. Zuck (Eds.), The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures (Vol. 1, p. 649). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.)
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Ver. 21. To fulfil the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah, &c.] That is, the Jews were so long servants in Babylon, as in the preceding verse, to accomplish Jeremiah’s prophecy of it, ch. 25:12 and 27:7 and 29:10. until the land had enjoyed her sabbaths; the sabbatical years, or seventh-year sabbaths, which, according to the law of the land, was to rest from being tilled, Lev. 25:4. which law had been neglected by the Jews, and now, whether they would or no, the land should have rest for want of persons to till it: for as long as she lay desolate she kept sabbath, to fulfil threescore and ten years; as threatened in Lev. 26:34, 35. on which text Jarchi observes, that at the destruction of the first temple the law concerning the sabbath, or rest of the land, had been neglected 430 years, in which space were 69 sabbatical years; and, according to Maimonides, it was at the end of a sabbatic year that the city and temple were destroyed, and so just 70 years had been neglected, and the land was tilled in them as in other years, and now it had rest that exact number of years; but of this we cannot be certain, though it is probable. (Gill, J. (1810). An Exposition of the Old Testament (Vol. 3, p. 102). London: Mathews and Leigh.)
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FROM MY READING:
(Remember the only author that I totally agree with is the HOLY SPIRIT in the inerrant WORD OF GOD called THE BIBLE! All other I try to gleam what I can to help me grow in the LORD!!)
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Following God has never been easy. God never intended for it to be. He tests us to know what is in our hearts and to teach us that we do not live by bread alone. When things are too easy, we tend to be ungrateful. We tend not to give God the recognition for His blessing. In chapter 8, we see God’s love and care, along with His tests and trials. We need both to be healthy. To grow, we need sunshine and rain.(Quiet Walk)
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Peer Problems
He who walks with wise men will be wise, but the companion of fools will suffer harm. PROVERBS 13:20
Barbara and I often prayed that the Lord would supply healthy friends to come alongside our kids at school and at church—friends who could be good, steady influences on them. But we also learned four critical unvarnished observations about peers:
1. Don’t assume your children’s peers have the same values as your family. Even if they go to the same church and youth group. Even if they seem to be like your children in most respects, don’t automatically consider them good friends for your kids to be around. Exercise discernment.
2. Don’t assume your children’s peers are good choosers of friends themselves. Just because a boy or girl comes from a good home, you don’t know the kind of friends they have. You don’t know who’s likely to be hanging around at their house when your children are there.
3. Don’t believe everything your children’s peers say. Trust me, even good teens can be deceitful. Our children had friends who lied right to our faces. They lied behind our backs. They were “good” kids by most standards, but they needed to be held accountable and checked up on.
4. Don’t assume your children’s peers will speak the truth to your children. More than any of the other three items in this list, this one snuck up and bit us. Our daughters had friends who were from great families but who literally tried to undermine what Barbara and I were attempting to teach.
It takes energy, foresight and thick skin to monitor your children’s friendships. But whatever the cost in tension, embarrassment and involvement, it’s a bargain compared to the bill some friends can run up in your children’s lives. I’m not encouraging you to give in to fear and raise loners. I’m not telling you that your kids are too good to be around others. I’m just saying that friends bear watching. Getting to know them well is a good investment of your time. (Moments with You Couples by Dennis and Barbara Rainey)
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