As dads, if we understood the WEIGHT of our words, we would worry a little bit more about WHAT we said!
I read something in Scripture a while back and made a note of it in my journal, then I saw something on Deadliest Catch the other night that brought it back to my mind. If you don’t know, Deadliest Catch is a show on Discovery that follows the crab fishing season of several boats in Alaska. I LOVE watching the show. It’s fascinating to me. But the other night, I saw something that broke my heart.
A captain of one of the boats employs one of his own sons as a crewman on the ship. This son is still learning the ropes on the boat and his dad wanted to give him a shot at a new role. “Throwing the hook”. This is the art of tossing a hook out into the sea to snag the rope that’s attached to the crab pot and the bottom of the ocean, which then brings the pot up to the surface to haul in the catch.
Well, this young man (20 something) tried it several times but to no avail. The dad, and captain of the ship came down to the deck and began to belittle his son in front of the crew. Literally beating him down word by word. The dad goes back up to his post and announces over the ships loudspeaker for everyone to hear “Your mom is going to be real proud when she sees this. She always wanted a girl.” The camera captured the look of the young man. It was like his dad just took some of the life right out of him. Who knows, he may never throw the hook the right way again, just based off what his dad said.
But this is something that jumped out at me in Scripture. God used it to challenge me on the words I use with my children. SPECIFICALLY my son!
In 1 Chronicles 28, David is handing off his throne to his son Solomon as well as the plans for building the Temple. And 1 Chronicles 28:20 says this Then David continued, “Be strong and courageous, and do the work. Don’t be afraid or discouraged, for the Lord God, my God, is with you. He will not fail you or forsake you. He will see to it that all the work related to the Temple of the Lord is finished correctly.
Essentially he’s telling Solomon “I believe in you and SO DOES GOD. HE will give you the power to do this.” David spoke SUCCESS into his son. He spoke LIFE into him. He spoke BELIEF into him.
Then when Solomon becomes King, 1 Chronicles 29:23 says this So Solomon took the throne of the Lord in place of his father, David, and he succeeded in everything, and all Israel obeyed him.
You’ll never convince me that Solomon’s success didn’t have anything to do with his dads words. DAD, your words carry WEIGHT! Speak LIFE, speak SUCCESS, speak BELIEF into your children. IT MATTERS!
As dads, if we understood the WEIGHT of our words, we would worry a little bit more about WHAT we said!
Worrying,
Jeff
