The House

This is the third week of Giving Account · கணக்கு ஒப்புவித்தல். In the first week we saw that every one of us will give account of himself to God, each for his own life. In the second we saw that height does not exempt anyone from that account; the higher a man stands, the more he must answer for. Last Sunday we met Nathan, and learned that every life needs at least one person who is allowed to ask for an account. However high a man rises, he must never get to the place where he thinks, I do not have to answer to anybody. This week the series comes home, to the hardest room in the house: the one where nobody is watching and everybody sees.

"For I have told him that I will judge his house forever for the iniquity which he knows, because his sons made themselves vile, and he did not restrain them." - 1 Samuel 3:13 (NKJV)

"அவன் குமாரர் தங்கள்மேல் சாபத்தை வரப்பண்ணுகிறதை அவன் அறிந்திருந்தும், அவர்களை அடக்காமற்போன பாவத்தினிமித்தம், நான் அவன் குடும்பத்துக்கு என்றும் நீங்காத நியாயத்தீர்ப்புச் செய்வேன் என்று அவனுக்கு அறிவித்தேன்." - 1 சாமுவேல் 3:13 (TAOVBSI)

A man may carry authority everywhere and refuse to carry it at home. Eli did. And the good man who watched it happen went on to repeat it.

The Room Nobody Inspects · யாரும் பார்க்காத அறை

It is possible to be respected in the church, trusted in the town, and quietly failing behind your own front door. That is not a modern problem; it is one of the oldest in this book. This morning's word is heavy, so hear the end before the beginning: there is grace for the house that will face itself.

Look around at the people the world calls successful. Read a little, look a little deeper, and you find that a great many of them have failed at home. Their marriages are in question; their families have come apart. Think of the film actors whose divorces are in the news, or of A. R. Rahman, one of the finest music composers this country has produced. He is a famously gentle man. Someone once provoked him on a stage over Hindi and Tamil, and he simply smiled, said thank you, and walked off. In interviews he has praised his wife at length and said she was his whole support. And still the day came when the marriage ended. When a husband and wife separate, the children and the parents are pulled into it as well. The house breaks.

Put me in A. R. Rahman's place and see how I would have answered. Even this morning, the hymn I called out at the start of worship was not the one in front of the young man at the keyboard, and I could feel the heat rising before I had worked out that I had called the wrong number myself. A man can be gentle in front of the world. The test is what he is like at the table.

Why Successful Men Fail at Home · வெற்றிபெற்றவர்கள் வீட்டில் தோற்பது ஏன்

Most of this message is for the men, and I include myself in it. Outside, in business and at work, we handle problems one way. When an employee is struggling and keeps breaking down at the desk, we are patient for a while. One day we say, take some rest. Another day, take permission and go home early. Another day, take leave. And after some time we call him in and say, if you cannot manage this, stay at home; there is no need to come in. In an office, if you gave every emotion its full weight, you would not earn a single rupee.

You cannot run a home that way. A family is full of feelings, and those feelings must be given their weight. Yet that is exactly what many men try to do: they come home and handle the house with the same method they use outside, and if someone cannot keep up, the answer is, then go. That is where the breaking begins.

Take something as small as a dosa. In a hotel, if the dosa comes without salt, you push the plate back and say, take it away, I don't want this. Do the same at your own table, and the family starts to crack. At the hotel you may send the saltless dosa back. At home you eat it without a word.

Men find this hard because we feel that saying sorry means we have lost. When you sit at the top of everything you are involved in, the word does not come easily. People can say what they like; we will talk round and round in circles, and the simple words, all right, I am sorry, will not leave the mouth. I have felt that in myself many times.

By the grace of God I have had some training. There is a family to care for, a business to run, other work among people who need a great deal of patience, and a church, where people come in every design and sometimes test us, and where we still have to look after them as our own children. All of it together has taught me patience, and God has used it to make me fit, little by little, to lead my own house. Today, in many things, I say sorry.

What is small to me can be large to my wife. Last week Rathna and I were coming home after five days away dropping our daughter off. Those five days were heavy: cleaning, running here and there, one job after another, and she carried most of it without asking me for anything. At the very end she wanted to stop at one more shop for one small thing. I was exhausted and could not face it. Then I thought: in five days she has not asked me for a single thing; she pulled the whole load herself. This is one request. So we went. The journey that should have taken twelve hours took fourteen, sixteen, and we came home in peace, with hours of good conversation on the road. If I had refused that one small thing, those sixteen hours in traffic would have been misery. Take the small thing positively, and the problem dissolves before it begins.

So you cannot run your family the way you run your workplace or your school. Nor can you run it by comparing it with other families - look what that husband does for his wife, why don't you do anything? The only thing you can measure a house against is the Word of God. And the Word gives us a man named Eli.

Eli and His Sons · ஏலியும் அவன் குமாரரும்

Eli (ஏலி) is the priest and judge of Israel. To put it simply, he is the pastor. He carries the ark, he blesses Hannah, he trains the boy Samuel. In public he is faithful.

He has two sons, Hophni and Phinehas. They should have been his assistant pastors, doing their father's work after him. Instead, when the people came with their offerings - not money in those days, but sacrifices - the sons took the fat and the best of the meat for themselves first and handed the worshipper back whatever was left to offer to God. And they abused the women who served at the door of the tabernacle. All Israel knew.

Eli speaks to them; he does speak. He calls them in and tells them, I hear about all these things you are doing, and they are very wrong. But he never removes them, never restrains them. The Hebrew word in 3:13 is blunt: he did not hold them back. So a word comes in the night, and it does not come to Eli. It comes to a child sleeping in the same house: I will judge his house forever, because he knew and did not restrain them.

Who Is to Blame? · யார் காரணம்?

Can a father be blamed when his children go the wrong way? The honest answer is that the children choose. A child may watch a father who lives badly and follow him; a child who hears his mother on the phone, spinning one lie after another, will learn to lie too. But the first wrong step is still the child's own. Eli, as far as the text shows, was doing his work properly while his sons went astray. His failure came afterwards. Once he knew, he did not stop them. If parents do not correct a child after the wrong has come to light, that failure belongs to the parents.

Think about that honestly. How many of us know that our children are going the wrong way? How many of us stop them? And how many of us say something once and leave it there?

Authority Everywhere Except at Home · வீட்டைத் தவிர எங்கும் அதிகாரம்

"Now Eli was very old; and he heard everything his sons did to all Israel, and how they lay with the women who assembled at the door of the tabernacle of meeting." - 1 Samuel 2:22 (NKJV)

"ஏலி மிகுந்த கிழவனாயிருந்தான்; அவன் தன் குமாரர் இஸ்ரவேலுக்கெல்லாம் செய்கிற எல்லாவற்றையும், அவர்கள் ஆசரிப்புக் கூடாரத்தின் வாசலில் கூட்டங்கூடுகிற ஸ்திரீகளோடே சயனிக்கிறதையும் கேள்விப்பட்டு," - 1 சாமுவேல் 2:22 (TAOVBSI)

Eli heard everything. The failure was never ignorance. Most failures at home are not ignorance; they are avoidance.

By our reckoning, Eli did the right thing. He called his sons and rebuked them. But read what God says about the same man seven verses later.

"Why do you kick at My sacrifice and My offering which I have commanded in My dwelling place, and honor your sons more than Me, to make yourselves fat with the best of all the offerings of Israel My people?" - 1 Samuel 2:29 (NKJV)

"என் வாசஸ்தலத்திலே செலுத்தும்படி நான் கட்டளையிட்ட என் பலியையும், என் காணிக்கையையும், நீங்கள் உதைப்பானேன்? என் ஜனமாகிய இஸ்ரவேலின் காணிக்கைகளிலெல்லாம் பிரதானமானவைகளைக்கொண்டு உங்களைக் கொழுக்கப்பண்ணும்படிக்கு, நீ என்னைப்பார்க்கிலும் உன் குமாரரை மதிப்பானேன் என்கிறார்." - 1 சாமுவேல் 2:29 (TAOVBSI)

You honour your sons more than Me. That is the charge, and it is not about affection. It is about who Eli was finally unwilling to displease. He spoke, but he did not stop the wrong. What restraint would have looked like is not hard to say. If you misuse the offering, you do not come near the offering again. If you behave like this at the place of sacrifice, you do not come in. If you misbehave with the women, you do not come near the women's side of the house of God; you do not go to the youth meeting; you sit on the men's side only. Eli said none of it. He talked to his sons and never restrained them (அடக்கவில்லை). Words that carry no consequence are only a show of correction.

A father can preach to a nation and be afraid of one conversation at his own table. The house is where our authority is tested, because it is the only place we cannot resign from and cannot be admired in.

Many parents do exactly what Eli did. They know their children are doing wrong, and they look the other way. I have heard parents say of a son who smokes, it's no problem as long as he doesn't do it in front of me. In front of my eyes I would have to say something; out of my sight, I can pretend. That is Eli's house.

Sons Honoured, Daughters Despised · ஆண் பிள்ளைகளும் பெண் பிள்ளைகளும்

Honouring sons above God has a familiar shape in our own region. Many homes treat their boys as if they were everything and treat their girls as though something unwanted had been born to them. And very often the ones doing it are not the men but the women. If we look down on a girl, who are we ourselves? Who is the mother who bore us? Have boys grown two horns? A woman matters every bit as much as a man.

"And the LORD God said, 'It is not good that man should be alone; I will make him a helper comparable to him.'" - Genesis 2:18 (NKJV)

"பின்பு, தேவனாகிய கர்த்தர்: மனுஷன் தனிமையாயிருப்பது நல்லதல்ல, ஏற்ற துணையை அவனுக்கு உண்டாக்குவேன் என்றார்." - ஆதியாகமம் 2:18 (TAOVBSI)

God did not say this to the woman. He said it about the man. It is God's own principle, not our opinion: a man cannot live as he should without the help God gives him in a woman. So on what ground do we despise a girl, or speak as if the man is everything? Again and again it is a woman who sets a man right and keeps him on the right path - a mother, a sister, a wife, sometimes even a daughter.

When a son is honoured too highly, the parents can no longer stop his wrongs. They will speak, perhaps, but go no further, and before long they are joined to the wrong themselves.

The Line That Ended · முடிந்துபோன சந்ததி

Because Eli did not restrain his sons, God stopped the priesthood in his line. He had been a pastor to all Israel, and after him no one from his house was to serve as priest. One descendant, Abiathar, did serve for a time, until King Solomon removed him.

"So Solomon removed Abiathar from being priest to the LORD, that he might fulfill the word of the LORD which He spoke concerning the house of Eli at Shiloh." - 1 Kings 2:27 (NKJV)

"அப்படியே கர்த்தர் சீலோவிலே ஏலியின் வீட்டாரைக்குறித்துச் சொன்ன வார்த்தையை நிறைவேற்றும்படியாக, சாலொமோன் அபியத்தாரைக் கர்த்தருடைய ஆசாரியனாயிராதபடிக்குத் தள்ளிப்போட்டான்." - 1 இராஜாக்கள் 2:27 (TAOVBSI)

The word God spoke was fulfilled, generations later. We often wonder why certain problems in our lives will not change, why poverty, struggles, even curses seem to follow us. Very often the roots go back to our parents and our parents' parents. And in the same way, the ones who will suffer for the wrongs we do are our children and our children's children. So each of us has to ask what kind of heart we are carrying.

The Good Man Repeated It · நல்லவனும் அதையே செய்தான்

"But his sons did not walk in his ways; they turned aside after dishonest gain, took bribes, and perverted justice." - 1 Samuel 8:3 (NKJV)

"ஆனாலும் அவனுடைய குமாரர் அவன் வழிகளில் நடவாமல், பொருளாசைக்குச் சாய்ந்து, பரிதானம் வாங்கி, நியாயத்தைப் புரட்டினார்கள்." - 1 சாமுவேல் 8:3 (TAOVBSI)

This verse is not about Eli. It is about Samuel. Eli was the man who formed the great prophet Samuel. Samuel grew up beside him and learned from him. God spoke to Samuel directly, and Samuel knew everything: what Eli had done wrong, what must not be done, how God had destroyed Eli's sons and stopped his line from the priesthood. The boy who heard the word against Eli's house grew up, grew old, and preached and taught across the whole land. And his own sons took bribes. Samuel, too, let his sons go.

Samuel of all people knew where that road ended. He had carried the message himself. And he walked it anyway. I have often asked myself how Samuel could do it. We read about Eli in a book, thousands of years after the event. Samuel saw it happen in front of his own eyes, in the very house where he grew up. How could he not know? How could he let his own children turn out like this?

Knowing the danger is not the same as escaping it. Watching another man's family fall gives you information, not immunity. And that is our position too. We hear and hear and hear the Word of God, for days, weeks, months and years. We know what trouble comes when we do not follow it; we know what comes of disobedience. And knowing all of it, we are very often like Samuel.

Why does it repeat? Because the failure is rarely dramatic. It is a thousand small refusals to have one hard conversation.

Children Are a Heritage · பிள்ளைகள் கர்த்தரால் வரும் சுதந்தரம்

"Behold, children are a heritage from the LORD, the fruit of the womb is a reward." - Psalm 127:3 (NKJV)

"இதோ, பிள்ளைகள் கர்த்தரால் வரும் சுதந்தரம், கர்ப்பத்தின் கனி அவரால் கிடைக்கும் பலன்." - சங்கீதம் 127:3 (TAOVBSI)

If our children are an inheritance from the Lord, God will ask whether we kept that inheritance safe and led it rightly. And He will ask the men first: what did you do with your child? Women carry responsibility too; a wife is one flesh with her husband and shares in the account. But the account will be asked of the men, without fail.

Can any of us say, my father and mother never made a single mistake in raising us, there is no one like my father, he led us one hundred percent right? No one can. Our parents led us well at times and wrongly at many other times, and their parents did the same with them. I am no different. But from all of it we have learned something. From our fathers we have learned how a husband must not be; from our mothers, how a wife must not be. We know what kinds of trouble those failures brought into our homes and how much was lost. And knowing all that, we go and repeat the same mistakes.

That is why it is a great burden on my heart that this church teach husband, wife and family from childhood. If children learn this early, they will watch their own father and mother now, see where they are right and where they are wrong, and decide what they must and must not do, so that when they marry they can live rightly.

A family matters more than success outside it. Money may last a long time, but if the relationship between husband and wife is not right, if the children are not right, if parents and children are estranged, no one will truly respect that house, however successful it looks. The family where parents and children live together with one mind is the one people honour, the one people want to talk to and seek counsel from. The house matters enormously, and we must give account for it. The head of the house must give account, and where there is no husband, the woman who leads the house. Parents, this is the warning and the mercy together: the pattern repeats unless somebody decides to stop it in this generation (இந்தத் தலைமுறையில்).

Your Knees Will Change Them · உங்கள் முழங்கால் அவர்களை மாற்றும்

You cannot control your children by force. Tell a restless boy to sit still and stop his mischief and he will sit there smiling, unchanged. But your knees will change them. Your prayers will change them.

I am the proof standing in front of you. I was a bad son. My mother prayed for me more than I know, and God has changed me. You may say I am still a little bad today, and I hear you; there is still a great deal in me that has to change. But in many things God has changed me, and it was not because of the people who gave me advice. Those who sat me down to counsel me went away wondering whether there was any point in living, asking whether a man could be such an animal. Advice alone sets nobody right. Prayer can change your husband, your wife, your children, and even your parents.

Everyone in the house carries some responsibility. The main responsibility belongs to the head of the family, but God will ask the children for an account too: Did you pray for your parents? Someone stood at that pulpit with a microphone and shouted that if you pray, your father will change and your mother will change. Did you pray?

A House That Answers · பதில் சொல்லுகிற வீடு

"And if it seems evil to you to serve the LORD, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD." - Joshua 24:15 (NKJV)

"கர்த்தரைச் சேவிக்கிறது உங்கள் பார்வைக்கு ஆகாததாய்க் கண்டால், பின்னை யாரைச் சேவிப்பீர்கள் என்று இன்று தெரிந்துகொள்ளுங்கள்; நதிக்கு அப்புறத்தில் உங்கள் பிதாக்கள் சேவித்த தேவர்களைச் சேவிப்பீர்களோ? நீங்கள் வாசம்பண்ணுகிற தேசத்துக் குடிகளாகிய எமோரியரின் தேவர்களைச் சேவிப்பீர்களோ? நானும் என் வீட்டாருமோவென்றால், கர்த்தரையே சேவிப்போம் என்றான்." - யோசுவா 24:15 (TAOVBSI)

Joshua does not say, my house will serve. He says, me and my house. He puts himself first in the sentence. A house becomes accountable when the head of it goes first. When the head of the family stands at the front, everything runs in good order. Until he does, the vehicle is hard to drive. It is not that a woman cannot drive it; she can. But when the head of the family steps forward and takes the wheel, it runs as it should. And the vehicle he must drive is this one: as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD. A house driven that way is full of joy and peace.

"And you, fathers, do not provoke your children to wrath, but bring them up in the training and admonition of the Lord." - Ephesians 6:4 (NKJV)

"பிதாக்களே, நீங்களும் உங்கள் பிள்ளைகளைக் கோபப்படுத்தாமல், கர்த்தருக்கேற்ற சிட்சையிலும் போதனையிலும் அவர்களை வளர்ப்பீர்களாக." - எபேசியர் 6:4 (TAOVBSI)

Paul warns fathers in both directions: do not provoke your children (கோபப்படுத்தாமல்), and do not neglect them. Harshness and absence fail a child in the same way.

Accountability at home runs upward too. Let your wife correct you. Let your grown children tell you the truth. A father who cannot be answered is training the next Eli. A practical place to start: one honest family conversation a week, where anyone may speak, and the father answers first.

It is not too late for any house that will hear this. Eli's line ended; Samuel's sons failed; and God still raised David out of that same generation.

David Between the Plague and the People · வாதைக்கும் ஜனத்துக்கும் நடுவே தாவீது

We have seen Eli, who let his sons go. We have seen Samuel, who did not take it to heart either. We have seen Joshua. But the greatest example I see of a man who carried the responsibility given to him is David.

First consider another king. When the prophet told Hezekiah that because of his folly, everything in his house would be carried off to Babylon and some of his own sons taken away to serve in the palace of a foreign king, what would you have said? Surely, no, Lord, please not that. Hezekiah said this:

"Then Hezekiah said to Isaiah, 'The word of the LORD which you have spoken is good!' For he said, 'Will there not be peace and truth at least in my days?'" - 2 Kings 20:19 (NKJV)

"அப்பொழுது எசேக்கியா ஏசாயாவை நோக்கி: நீர் சொன்ன கர்த்தருடைய வார்த்தை நல்லதுதான் என்று சொல்லி, என் நாட்களிலாவது சமாதானமும் உண்மையும் இருக்குமே என்றான்." - 2 இராஜாக்கள் 20:19 (TAOVBSI)

At least in my days. Many of us pray that way: let the Lord's will be done, so long as it happens in somebody else's life and not mine. Hezekiah could not even say, let the Lord's will be done. He said, never mind, it will fall in my children's time; I will be fine, and that is enough for me. It is worth sitting with how a man could say such a thing.

The Census · கணக்கெடுப்பு

David is different. In 2 Samuel 24 he numbers Israel, and numbering the people was a serious sin that brought God's punishment. But look at the first verse.

"Again the anger of the LORD was aroused against Israel, and He moved David against them to say, 'Go, number Israel and Judah.'" - 2 Samuel 24:1 (NKJV)

"கர்த்தருடைய கோபம் திரும்ப இஸ்ரவேலின்மேல் மூண்டது. இஸ்ரவேல் யூதா என்பவர்களை இலக்கம் பார் என்று அவர்களுக்கு விரோதமாய்ச் சொல்லுகிறதற்கு தாவீது ஏவப்பட்டான்." - 2 சாமுவேல் 24:1 (TAOVBSI)

God's anger was against Israel. To discipline Israel, David's heart was moved to count the people. Joab and the men around him told him not to, but he insisted and it was done. The one who did the wrong was David, but the ones who would suffer were the people under his rule.

Notice that no one came and told David he had sinned. God did not call him in and say, the census was wrong. When it was finished, David's own conscience struck him.

"And David's heart condemned him after he had numbered the people. So David said to the LORD, 'I have sinned greatly in what I have done; but now, I pray, O LORD, take away the iniquity of Your servant, for I have done very foolishly.'" - 2 Samuel 24:10 (NKJV)

"இவ்விதமாய் ஜனங்களை எண்ணினபின்பு, ராஜாவின் இருதயம் அவனை வாதித்தது; அப்பொழுது தாவீது கர்த்தரை நோக்கி: நான் இப்படிச் செய்ததினாலே பெரிய பாவஞ்செய்தேன்; இப்போதும் ஆண்டவரே, உமது அடியானின் அக்கிரமத்தை நீக்கிவிடும்; நான் மகா புத்தியீனமாய்ச் செய்தேன் என்றான்." - 2 சாமுவேல் 24:10 (TAOVBSI)

He went to God of his own accord and confessed. What would we expect next? Forgiveness, surely. Instead the prophet Gad comes with three options: seven years of famine in the land, three months fleeing before his enemies, or three days of plague.

"So Gad came to David and told him; and he said to him, 'Shall seven years of famine come to you in your land? Or shall you flee three months before your enemies, while they pursue you? Or shall there be three days' plague in your land? Now consider and see what answer I should take back to Him who sent me.'" - 2 Samuel 24:13 (NKJV)

"அப்படியே காத் தாவீதினிடத்தில் வந்து, அவனை நோக்கி: உம்முடைய தேசத்திலே ஏழு வருஷம் பஞ்சம் வரவேண்டுமோ? அல்லது மூன்று மாதம் உம்முடைய சத்துருக்கள் உம்மைப் பின்தொடர, நீர் அவர்களுக்கு முன்பாக ஓடிப்போகவேண்டுமோ? அல்லது உம்முடைய தேசத்திலே மூன்று நாள் கொள்ளை நோய் உண்டாக வேண்டுமோ? இப்போதும் என்னை அனுப்பினவருக்கு நான் என்ன மறுஉத்தரவு கொண்டுபோக வேண்டும் என்பதை நீர் யோசித்துப் பாரும் என்று சொன்னான்." - 2 சாமுவேல் 24:13 (TAOVBSI)

If God put those three in front of you, which would you choose? Most of us would say, none of them, Lord. Or we would pick whichever finishes soonest. If it were me, I would argue: Lord, I did wrong, but I realised it myself; I asked for forgiveness before You said a word. Why three punishments? And then, going deeper: You were the one who stirred my heart to do it. You did all this, and now You lay the blame on me and punish me? That is how we would talk.

David did not argue. He accepted it.

"And David said to Gad, 'I am in great distress. Please let us fall into the hand of the LORD, for His mercies are great; but do not let me fall into the hand of man.'" - 2 Samuel 24:14 (NKJV)

"அப்பொழுது தாவீது காத்தை நோக்கி: கொடிய இடுக்கணில் அகப்பட்டிருக்கிறேன்; இப்போது நாம் கர்த்தருடைய கையிலே விழுவோமாக; அவருடைய இரக்கங்கள் மகா பெரியது; மனுஷர் கையிலே விழாதிருப்பேனாக என்றான்." - 2 சாமுவேல் 24:14 (TAOVBSI)

He did not name an option. Because he refused to fall into the hands of men, we can take it that the plague was what came, since a plague does not come from human hands. But which option it was is not the point. The point is why the punishment came, and what David did when it fell.

Let Your Hand Be Against Me · உம்முடைய கை எனக்கு விரோதமாயிருப்பதாக

The plague came, and an angel went through the land destroying. And then:

"And when the angel stretched out His hand over Jerusalem to destroy it, the LORD relented from the destruction, and said to the angel who was destroying the people, 'It is enough; now restrain your hand.' And the angel of the LORD was by the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite." - 2 Samuel 24:16 (NKJV)

"தேவதூதன் எருசலேமை அழிக்கத் தன் கையை அதின்மேல் நீட்டினபோது, கர்த்தர் அந்தத் தீங்குக்கு மனஸ்தாபப்பட்டு, ஜனங்களைச் சங்கரிக்கிற தூதனை நோக்கி: போதும், இப்போது உன் கையை நிறுத்து என்றார்; அந்த வேளையில் கர்த்தருடைய தூதன் எபூசியனாகிய அர்வனாவின் போரடிக்கிற களத்திற்கு நேரே இருந்தான்." - 2 சாமுவேல் 24:16 (TAOVBSI)

"Then David spoke to the LORD when he saw the angel who was striking the people, and said, 'Surely I have sinned, and I have done wickedly; but these sheep, what have they done? Let Your hand, I pray, be against me and against my father's house.'" - 2 Samuel 24:17 (NKJV)

"ஜனத்தை உபாதிக்கிற தூதனை தாவீது கண்டபோது, அவன் கர்த்தரை நோக்கி: இதோ, நான்தான் பாவஞ்செய்தேன்; நான்தான் அக்கிரமம் பண்ணினேன்; இந்த ஆடுகள் என்ன செய்தது? உம்முடைய கை எனக்கும் என் தகப்பன் வீட்டுக்கும் விரோதமாயிருப்பதாக என்று விண்ணப்பம்பண்ணினான்." - 2 சாமுவேல் 24:17 (TAOVBSI)

David may have assumed the punishment would include himself. But he saw his own household untouched while his people were dying, and he could not bear it. Lord, who sinned? I did. Why should these people be destroyed for my wrong decision? What have these sheep done? Punish me; punish my father's house. That is leadership. If God has given us ten people to lead, our whole heart must be for them.

Notice too that God had already stopped the angel in verse 16, before David's prayer in verse 17. That was David's heart. Before the words were in his mouth, while the thought was still forming in him, God already knew it, and the destruction had been halted. And still David prayed: punish me, not them. David was a man after God's own heart.

Standing in the Gap for Your Children · பிள்ளைகளுக்காகத் திறப்பில் நிற்பது

Carry that into your own house. When trouble comes to your family, can you stand in the gap for them and pray, Lord, do not let my children suffer for my wrong? Have you ever prayed it? My adultery and fornication, the wrong relationships I had, the wrong things I looked at and said, the habits I carry: because of them my children are suffering today. Let it fall on me, Lord, not on my children. Have we ever asked that?

As a head of the house, do we worry about our children? Do we think about their lives, their future, their descendants? Four or five generations after I am dead, what will happen? Will they be blessed, or will they be carrying the curse that came from my wrongs? If I do wrong, its curse goes to my children. My dishonesty, my lies, my adultery and fornication all reach them. Do I know that and still say, never mind, they will manage somehow? Or do I say with David, Lord, I am the one who sinned; punish me?

When we are tempted, the thought comes: nobody is watching today; nobody will ask; nobody will ever know. But if we carry this thought instead, that the wrong will reach our children, and that we alone should bear the cost of our own sin, we will not do the wrong in the first place. And if we fall, we will say, Lord, do not punish my children for me; do not punish them for the bad life I lived; I am the one who deserves it, I am the guilty one. A man who admits that will find his life changed.

Live with that mindset and you will do only what makes for peace in your home. Whatever benefits the family, whatever is a blessing to the house and good for the children, that is all we will do. Even something I have wanted for myself for years, I will not do it if it costs them, because my children and my children's children must be blessed.

That includes the things a husband and wife do together for their own pleasure while the children are forgotten. Have we, as husband, as wife, or as a couple together, done things for our own desires that have cost our children? Say it to God plainly. He will ask for an account one day. We must not become a house thrust away like Eli's, a line cast out from the mountain of God, unworthy of blessing. We must not, like Samuel, know everything and still not set it right. Let us be like Joshua, and like David.

A Covenant That Stands · உறுதியாய் நிற்கும் உடன்படிக்கை

God looked at David and saw a man with a long-term vision. Not the king who said, my son will bear it, never mind; but David, who said, let it fall on me. To David God made this promise:

"My mercy I will keep for him forever, and My covenant shall stand firm with him." - Psalm 89:28 (NKJV)

"என் கிருபையை என்றென்றைக்கும் அவனுக்காகக் காப்பேன்; என் உடன்படிக்கை அவனுக்காக உறுதிப்படுத்தப்படும்." - சங்கீதம் 89:28 (TAOVBSI)

The God who came down to David in everlasting mercy did everything needed so that Jesus Christ would come from his line. He will do it in our lives too. Are we content to get through our own lifetime, or are we thinking of blessing from generation to generation? To those who obey His word, God's grace is without measure, and He blesses them generation after generation. If you will say today, Lord, I will not look only at my own life; I will look at my children's lives and my children's children's lives, then God is able to turn your life completely around.

That word is for the young and the unmarried as well. Tell God as much as you understand: Lord, I give myself to obey Your word. Let my family be one. Let us live long and live lives that are useful to many. Let my parents and my grandparents live many years and do what pleases You. Be gracious to me, Lord. Do not let me look only at my own life.

Conclusion · முடிவுரை

Eli heard and did not restrain. Samuel knew and repeated it. The chain breaks only where somebody decides it breaks. Joshua went first, and David stood between the plague and his people and said, let Your hand be against me.

Do not let this word make you despair over your children. Let it make you go home and start one conversation. The house that will answer to God together is the safest place any child can grow up.

Declaration Prayer · அறிக்கை ஜெபம்

பிதாவே, என் வீட்டில் நான் முதலில் கணக்கு ஒப்புவிக்கிறேன். ஏலியைப்போல அறிந்தும் அமைதியாயிராதபடிக்கு எனக்குத் தைரியம் தாரும். என் குடும்பம் உம்மைச் சேவிக்கிற வீடாயிருக்கக்கடவது. இயேசுவின் நாமத்தினாலே, ஆமென்.

Father, in my house I give account first. Give me courage, so that I do not stay silent like Eli when I know. Let my family be a house that serves You. In Jesus' name, Amen.

One Thing This Week · இந்த வாரம் ஒன்று மட்டும்

Have one honest conversation at home this week that you have been avoiding. Start it yourself, and go first.

Next week - Part 4 of கணக்கு ஒப்புவித்தல் (Giving Account): எஜமானுக்கும் ஒரு எஜமான். The memory verse to carry in, ready to recite next Sunday: 1 Samuel 3:13 - அவர்களை அடக்காமற்போன பாவத்தினிமித்தம்.