Gold Nugget 327 - The Crown of Prosperity
That which touches us in our home affections either stirs within us the deepest and purest joy or awakens the profoundest and most poignant grief. An unworthy son, a “thankless child,” an heir who is likely to overturn all that we have laboriously built up, will make the very sweetest enjoyments and the fairest earthly possessions to lose all their charm and be of no account to us.
But such a son as Jotham is to his father the crown of prosperity and the comfort of adversity. From royal cares the king goes home to find, in conjugal and in filial affection, a contentment and a peace, an exhilaration and a joy, which no glittering gewgaws and no obsequious attentions are able to command. We do not know how highly Uzziah prized the virtue and the attachment of his son during his earlier and happier years, but we may be well assured that, when the hand of God was upon him, and he was separated from the society of men, he found in Jotham’s regency and in his filial sympathy a priceless mitigation to his loss, an invaluable treasure in his loneliness and his decline.
Parents may think that their professional or household duties make it impossible for them to afford time for the teaching and training of their children, for the culture of their Christian character; but they ought to know that, whatever their other claims may be, they cannot afford to neglect their parental duty. If they do neglect it, they will leave undone that which will make them immeasurably poorer than they might become a few years further on. …
He inherited great things from his father, the king; but from his father, the servant of Jehovah, he gained one that outweighed them all – the influence for good of a godly man. … It was very largely, indeed, to his father’s example that he owed his own character for piety and purity. And what is there in the most splendid surroundings, or in the most attractive positions, that is to be compared with that? They will perish, but that will endure; they will lose their charm, but it will always be precious beyond all price; they are relatively, but that is intrinsically and eternally, valuable.
We may not have to thank our parents for a fortune or a dowry – it matters little; we may have to than them for a bright and beautiful example – that matters much, indeed everything. We should give God heartfelt thanks for all the gracious influences which come to us in our home-life, and regard them as of the very best gifts that come from his Divine hand. We should have it as a sacred and honourable ambition to confirm (and not to destroy) the work of those who went before us. If we do thus live, our fathers will be living on in us and through us, and if we cannot immortalize their name, we can perpetuate their influence. We may hope that such filial devotedness will be rewarded by parental rejoicing in those whom we shall leave behind, to whom we shall commit the fruit of our labor.
The Pulpit Commentary, II Chronicles p. 326-327, II Chronicles 27: 1,2, (W. Clarkson)
Gold Nugget 327
The Crown of Prosperity
