Daily Devotions
Rebellious Children
Title: Rebellious Children
Reading for March 16: Judges 11-13
Then Manoah prayed to the Lord and said, "O Lord, please let the man of God whom you sent come again to us and teach us what we are to do with the child who will be born."
Judges 13:8
Can a rebellious child come from a good home?
The answer is yes.
Just look at Samson. While it is true that he is a member of the "Hall of Fame of Faith" (Hebrews 11:32), Samson was hardly a paragon of virtue. He was a womanizer; a self-willed, hot tempered man. And while we don't have enough information about Manoah and his wife to give a fair judgment, what we do know from this chapter shows that they sincerely wanted to raise him to be a godly son.
Parents sometimes heap up too much guilt on themselves when their children rebel against the Lord as adults. No parent is perfect. We all make mistakes. But there's only so much we can do to influence them to serve the Lord. Ultimately, each person must decide for themselves whether they will submit to the Lord or not.
Father, comfort those who are grieving the loss of children to the evil one.
