Teenagers 101
They certainly don’t make things easy for child-parent relationships.
Reference: The king of Israel answered Jehoshaphat, “There is still one prophet through whom we can inquire of the Lord, but I hate him because he never prophesies anything good about me, but always bad. He is Micaiah son of Imlah.”
“The king should not say such a thing,” Jehoshaphat replied.
Explore: I love talking to my 20-year old daughter. After all the angst of teenage years, it’s so nice to converse with a logical, rational, thoughtful young adult.
I don’t know what it is about those teenage years, but they certainly don’t make things easy for child-parent relationships. It’s like everything we do gets under the skin of the other person, and so begins a disastrous cycle.
While I know that I was far from being a perfect parent, I remember every action from my teenager always seemed to go against our expectations. And then she’d be surprised when we pulled her up on her behaviour.
Application: Now I think about it, maybe I’m still a teenager to God. I know how I should behave, and then when I do the opposite I’m surprised at the consequences that come my way!
The King of Israel, Ahab, was the same. He had turned away from God and his laws and then hated when God’s prophet spoke of doom and destruction to him. What did he expect?
I think there are times when we think that just because we are connected to God that we are free from the world’s consequences. I know that we have an all-powerful God who could change the rotation of the earth if he desired to do so, however, He allows us our freewill – for good and for bad.
It makes you think a little more about what is happening in your life and maybe how your actions have contributed to it.
Prayer: Lord, it’s so easy to point the finger at others when things don’t go our way. Help us to take responsibility for our actions and do our best to stay on the course that You have set for us. Amen.
When it comes to your faith, how old would you consider yourself?
This article was written by Linda Bailey
Linda started theological studies in 1999 in Australia. After working for ten years in various church ministries, she now works as the breakfast producer at 89.9 LightFM - the Christian radio station in Melbourne, Australia. She writes blogs every day about passages she is currently reading in the Bible. Follow her on Google Plus +Linda Bailey or Facebook by clicking the like button on the right of this page.