Father’s Day
“Love, Father”
Dr. Burns Jenkins was a popular preacher and writer of a generation ago. When his son went to college, Jenkins admonished him not to join a certain fraternity. This, of course, was the very fraternity young Jenkins joined. For months he lived with the secret. Then, as he spoke to a church youth group one night, he was smitten by a sense of unworthiness. Returning to his room, he wrote his father in detail of his disobedience. Two days later he received this wire: “It’s all right. I forgive you. I knew it two days after you did it. Love, Father.”
Too Late
“O my son Absalom, my son, my son Absalom! Would I had died instead of you, O Absalom, my son, my son!” (2 Sam. 18:33b). The sun and wind of the centuries have failed to dry the tears or still the anguish of this exceedingly sorrowful cry. Who was this distraught person? A neurotic parent? No, a king—King David!
David was the first king in history to be selected according to ability rather than birth. He was courageous. His character crowned him king. He was considerate and in many ways magnanimous. Twice he spared the life of his enemy Saul. In spite of his sins, the people of Judah loved him. David was a good ruler, a fine soldier, and a wise statesman. He did not fail as king. He failed as father. He was too involved in royal responsibilities to relate adequately to his family.
While young Absalom was on reconnaissance with his father’s troops, his long hair became entangled in the limbs of a tree, making him an easy prey for the enemy. The king was crushed by the news of his son’s death because he realized the accident could have been avoided. David’s anguish was increased by the knowledge that he had not been a worthy example.
This is a continuing and familiar pattern of busy fathers. They have a way of coming too late to the needs of their children.
G. Curtis Jones, 1000 Illustrations for Preaching and Teaching (Nashville, TN: Broadman Press, 1986).
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