some rhetoric

But they were far gone in disobedience and refused to listen to a thing their father said. – 1 Samuel 2:25

Makes me wonder what Eli at this old age would do. Perhaps helpless, in utter grief. What kind of a father would have sons grow up and have no understanding of this sacredness of boundaries and leadership? If this were another day of pointing fingers, I would have missed the point completely.

This is not a rhetoric.

Sons, boys who eventually have to take up their position as men, leaders of the communities they were blessed with, starting with their immediate, brimming over into the larger scheme of God’s intended connections and relations.

Stewardship along with leadership.

Have we lived so far advanced in our time and age that we begin to question our forefather’s wisdom and values that we are now ignoring them? What is the meaning of this irony and wisdom, my spirit cries. All of the wisdom we can garner, all of our knowledge of what’s good, what’s evil, what brings life, what brings death, all laid out in ancient text easily accessible in translated syntax of our modernity.

Meet King Solomon: the man who created our proverbs, the man who had too many wives for the common man’s fitness. The man who have touched the sting of wealth, health, indulgence, opulence. The man whose heart, by the grace of God, was captured for our sakes. Who, now father our fathers who are willing to respect and listen in obedience to the ones who have gone before us.

Perhaps we are a generation who needs to know what it means to stumble to go beyond what we cannot handle to know the grace of God. I look back at the myriad of activities behind the level head and stable and come up thankful that I am still alive. Still under His grace. Still living in freedom from the paid dues he nailed on the tree those thousands of years ago. Free to still be the restless, disrespectful son, questioning every move and make of this human prototype. His grace extends far more than I can comprehend.

So Lord, what are you doing? Sons and boys in my hands. Leaders of the next generation. They tear and wear at the seams. They weigh in on me. Challenging the boy within. Will You have mercy and guide us all. Will You teach me the way of your wisdom, the depth of Your creation science. Your sons and your daughters, your leaders and mothers. Your men and women. By Your rod and Your staff, comfort and lead. Heal and release. As I step up, to trust and obey.

Simply trust and obey and the rest will follow.