| Today’s Verse from the New Living Translation |
| About that time David’s son Adonijah, whose mother was Haggith, began boasting, “I will make myself king.” So he provided himself with chariots and charioteers and recruited fifty men to run in front of him. Now his father, King David, had never disciplined him at any time, even by asking, “Why are you doing that?” Adonijah had been born next after Absalom, and he was very handsome.1 Kings 1:5–6 view in context |
| Encouragement for Today |
| Many Scriptures contain examples of what not to do. This is one of them. Here we see the fruit of David’s neglect and lack of parental discipline: Adonijah’s rebellion. David may have been a good king, but he wasn’t a good father. He never even asked Adonijah what he was doing (and the verse indicates this was a pattern). This kind of egregious parental neglect leads only to trouble and heartbreak. The antidote, implied by what David didn’t do, is simple attention, interest, and discipline when the parent perceives the child is going astray. |