His father had never rebuked him by asking, “Why do you behave as you do?” He was also very handsome and was born next after Absalom. – 1 Kings 1:6

Today’s Scripture Reading (July 22, 2016): 1 Kings 1

Johnny Manziel and Greg Hardy have headed the most recent list of athletes who should have been among the elite and highest paid among their peers but who have instead been relegated to a list of athletes looking for one more team to take a chance on them – one more opportunity to prove that they can do what we all know that they can do. The problem with this long list of athletes is that they not only have not played to their ability, but they have also allowed their behavior to become an incredible distraction to the teams for whom they play. And really the reason is probably not on them – it is on us. The truth is that for all of their lives they have been special, and everyone has treated them that way. There have been no barriers that they have been unable to cross. Coaches and family members rarely put limits on the things that they could do. Why would they? They lived in a world where winning was the object and they lived a cut above everyone else. They were royalty, the kings of their domain. Until they grew up and suddenly found themselves in the presence of hundreds of other kings. The rules had changed. And they had no idea how to handle that change.

Rebellion among the sons of David seemed to have been a common thing. And that rebellion had already cost David two sons. And now the third was ready to exercise his own rebellion. With the death of his two brothers, Amnon and Absalom, Adonijah was now the oldest of the sons of David and he considered himself the heir apparent to the throne of Israel. He was apparently clearly aware that David had promised the throne to Solomon because as Adonijah gathers the princes, Solomon is notably missing from the gathering. Then he follows the exact path of his brother Absalom, almost using Absalom’s rebellion as a model for his own revolution.

Yet, in spite of all the signs, David refused to rebuke his son. It was a pattern that David fell into all through his life. He refused to reign in the princes. They could do whatever they wanted. They were the special ones. While David was the greatest military conqueror Israel would ever know, he had exerted absolutely no control over his own household. And because of that, two sons already had died, and a third was on the same path. Because of David’s lack of discipline over his own family, the princes were in trouble.

The reality is that none of us handle a lack discipline well. A few might emerge as great benefactors of the human race, but most of us seem to, at least in some way, follow the path of the princes – Amnon, Absalom, Adonijah, Manziel, and Hardy. I wish that was the end of the list, but it isn’t. While we may not enjoy being disciplined, we need the boundaries that discipline provides in order to grow into healthy and productive people of the earth. If Solomon is the author Proverbs, maybe it is his front row seat for this Davidic drama that caused him to write “My son, do not despise the Lord’s discipline, and do not resent his rebuke, because the Lord disciplines those he loves, as a father the son he delights in” (Proverbs 3:11-12).

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading:  1 Kings 2