My daughter and I have become a team without even realizing it. We thought we were just working things out so that she could be a piano teacher here in our home, but what is happening is much greater than that. As the students come, so do the moms of the students and even their families sometimes. Not only is it an opportunity for me to meet with these moms, but it is also an opportunity for my other children to be kind and hospitable even if the children are not exactly their ages or not exactly who they normally play with.
It has been a blessing for me, too. Choosing to be a stay-at-home mom means there are sacrifices. For me it has meant that my social circle is more limited. In my younger days at university, for example, not a day went by where I didn't have some kind of coffee date set up. With kids that becomes a bit of a challenge. But those earlier days where sometimes loneliness crept in God always met me by either sending a surprise visitor, a phone call, or even a stranger at a park. Now that we are out in the country, I wondered, how will I ever get out and just walk to the park? I figured I would struggle in this area as I am a bit of a social butterfly. I wondered how that need would get met....
Enter piano teaching daughter. As she has begun to teach more and more regularly, more and more moms and kids come into my life and my children's lives. If I ever struggled for coffee dates, no more! Almost daily now we have visitors coming to our home and I get to sit and chat and enjoy a coffee or a tea several times a week. The moms minister to me as much as I do to them (if I do at all!). We've prayed together. We've laughed together. We've challenged one another. It is so much more than just sitting and waiting for their kids' lessons to be over. I think God is just so creative! He made us think we were just creating a music studio for our daughter, but really He was doing a much greater thing....and I don't even have to leave my house. That is the unique blessing in this whole situation. God is good.
Back to 2 Samuel for a second.....I read in Chapter 10 today about the battle that David was in with the Ammonites. David sent Joab and his mighty men to the forefront of the battle. Joab "saw that the battle was set against him both in front and in the rear". (10:9). Isn't that how it is with us? It seems everywhere we turn there is some kind of battle going on in our lives. If we pay a bill one day, the next day another one or two or even three come in.....aahhhhhhh...the never-ending battle with bills! One day it is a struggle with sickness. A child will get sick and then recover, only to have another child become sick. We'll fix something in our house and then another thing falls apart.
What I appreciated most about this verse was Joab's response. When he saw that the battle was all around him, "he chose some of the best men of Israel and arrayed them against the Syrians." He didn't fall apart! He matter-of-factly dealt with the situation. Didn't freak out. Didn't panic. Didn't give up. Didn't run away. As soon as the Syrians saw Joab's men (the Syrians were fighting for the Ammonites), "they fled before him". Just their presence was enough to scare them away. It was only as "they drew near", no fighting even had to happen. This must be my response to the battles I find myself in. I need to keep myself together and simply surround myself with my "best men". Who or what would that be? I surround myself and my family, by faith, through prayer, with "hedges of protection". I surround myself with my family. We sit twice a day in our family room, praying, keeping our altar lit, trying to never let it go out, bringing our requests before God. We implore God for His protection that the enemy in our life will be defeated. Satan has to flee. He flees sometimes I'm sure when we don't even realize it as soon as he sees us on our knees. He realizes he doesn't have a chance with a praying family, though he doesn't always give up so easily.
"When the Syrians saw that they had been defeated by Israel, they gathered themselves together." (10:15) They tried to regroup and come after the Israelites yet again, but this time they were virtually annihilated by David and his army. The Syrians were sorry they had ever tried to help the Ammonites, "So the Syrians were afraid to save the Ammonites anymore." I guess so! This is the case with us, too. Satan doesn't always go down so easily. Sometimes our enemy seems to regroup and come back even stronger, with a bigger arsenal of weapons trying to take us out, with discouragement, difficult circumstances, fear, bad news, etc....but David and his army didn't back down and neither should we. They expected the second attack from the Syrians. David got news they were regrouping and just as Joab didn't back down, neither did David. "He gathered all Israel together and crossed the Jordan." That's what we do over here, too. As soon as there is clearly strife or some kind of obvious stress in RM's work life, we call the kids together and we "cross the Jordan". We pray, we cry out, we fast. We do whatever type of warfare it takes to fight our invisible enemy.
As parents, we have to lead in this battle. We must model this for the younger kids, so they will know how to fight when they go through their own battles later on in life. David was great for this until Chapter 11. Up until this point he had gone with his army into battle, leading his mighty men valiantly. Then, the fateful chapter where his life went downhill from there on, all because he chose to stay home when everyone else was fighting. "In the spring of the year, the time when kings go out to battle, David sent Joab, and his servants with him, and all Israel....but David remained at Jerusalem." (11:1) That was his big mistake, staying home, not fighting. Instead, he lazed around his house, walking around on rooftops. His complacency led to his fall. He unwillingness to fight led to many innocent people dying. There are consequences if we get passive in our parenting, in our fighting.
The consequences for David's sin with Bathsheba went on for years and for generations. This story is clearly included in the Bible for our benefit so that we don't repeat the same mistakes! We don't have to go through what David did in order to learn. Wisdom comes from watching others struggle and learning from their mistakes. Yes, sometimes we benefit when we go through things ourselves, but we don't have to have an affair to learn that having an affair is bad!!!! So I'm grateful for this story. I'm grateful for the lessons we can glean without having to experience it ourselves.
The main takeaway? Don't stay home and send others to fight! Fight alongside the mighty men. Don't be surprised when the enemy tries to come back with a different tactic. Have strategies. Be prepared.
Poor David. May I learn from his tragic story.
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