THE WORD OF THE LORD TO YOU TODAY: Honor Your Mother & Your Father
My Daughter, My Son…God Says: Honor YOUR FATHER and YOUR MOTHER
Scripture tells us:
Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee. Exodus 20:12
God didn’t say to deny them nor hate them for their shortcomings. He simply says…Honor your father and your mother. He doesn’t leave it there. He states that there is a positive result for doing this: that your days may be long upon the land.
WHAT DOES “TO HONOR” MEAN?
Dictionary.com defines the word honor as:
- high respect, as for worth, merit, or rank: to be held in honor.
- To show courteous regard
So what is God saying to us today?
God is calling us to exercise high respect and show continuous courteous regard to our parents no matter what they have done or said.
Now this is not only mentioned in the book of Exodus as one of the commandments given unto Moses, but it is repeated in Exodus.
Honour thy father and thy mother, as the Lord thy God hath commanded thee; that thy days may be prolonged, and that it may go well with thee, in the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee. (Exodus 5:16)
THIS IS THE FIRST COMMANDMENT WITH A PROMISE ATTACHED
The Apostle Paul says:
1 Children, obey your parents in the Lord: for this is right.
2 Honour thy father and mother; which is the first commandment with promise;
3 That it may be well with thee, and thou mayest live long on the earth.
(Epehsians 6:1-3)
Paul was very clear to inform the church that this is a first commandment with promise. In other words, Paul was very clear in telling God’s people that it is God’s promise to give us long life on this earth. If we respect our parents, all will be well with us and we will have long life here on the earth, until God takes us home.
From Paul’s words one could conclude that dishonoring your father and your mother will lead to a shortened life span. The onus is therefore on us to walk fully in this promise of God but doing our part. It’s all up to us. We have long life in our hands by the way we respond to our parents.
Moses wrote: Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee. Exodus 20:12
God has allotted specific days for us to be here on earth, His question to you today is: Will you yourself cause them to be shortened? …….
Let that question sink in for a while……
Whatever your father or mother has done or not done, said or not said has nothing to do with the fact that above all things we are called to honor.
What will your response be today?
Interesting enough we may saying at this point: You can say all you want, you just don’t know how much he or she hurt or hurts me and I just can’t be nice to him or her.
Ok. That is quite understandable. After all, you alone know the hurt and torment that you have been through. But take a minute to look at Jesus. He was, is and always will be the ultimate example.
His father put Him on the cross for us. He loves us so much that let Jesus become sin for us and suffer for us that we might have a savior. Jesus could have disrespected His father and called on legions of angels to destroy those who were crucifying. Instead He did it and said not my will my thine will be done. He was obedient to God because of the promise in the end, which is for us to have everlasting life.
Similarly God is calling us to be obedient to Him and His word (which is to obey and honor our parents) so that our days would be long in the land which the Lord thy God has given to us.
THE ORIGINAL MEANING OF THE WORD “HONOR” IN HEBREW:
In some case, you can never get the full understanding of what God is saying without going back to the original language in which the Bible was written.
You will notice that I spoke a lot of being obedient and respectful, but let us take a look at the original meaning of the Hebrew word for “honor”. The Old Testament was originally written in hebrew and the original translation for the word “honor” is “kabad”. Here is what the Strongs Concordance says:
Kabad or kabed {kaw-bade’}; a primitive root; to be heavy, i.e. in a bad sense (burdensome, severe, dull) or in a good sense (numerous, rich, honorable; causatively, to make weighty (in the same two senses):–abounding with, more grievously afflict, boast, be chargeable, X be dim, glorify, be (make) glorious (things), glory, (very) great, be grievous, harden, be (make) heavy, be heavier, lay heavily, (bring to, come to, do, get, be had in) honour (self), (be) honourable (man), lade, X more be laid, make self many, nobles, prevail, promote (to honour), be rich, be (go) sore, stop.
Above all else, the words that stood out to me were “make weighty”, “abounding with” and “prevail”. There is another way that God wants us to see the act of respecting our father and mother.
Let’s take a look at these words that stood for me:
Make weighty – In other words, make your father and your mother become your responsibility.
I don’t believe at all that God is asking us to do the impossible, but as I sought Him for deeper interpretation He brought me to parents in their older years. This has nothing to do with physical size. This is simply telling us that we are called to allow our parents to rest on us and allow their burdens to become our burdens, as they get old. In other words, God commands us to take care of them and take responsibility for them as they reach the age where they are not able to do the things that they could not do before. God says this is all in the process of honoring. Even before they get to this stage, we are called to honor them by being there for them. It is like allowing them to lean on us. As you allow them to lean on you, you will feel their weight but God says He has given you the strength to do it and to be a blessing to them in their old age. As they lean on you, you will feel the weight but see it as an act of gratitude to God for using your father and your mother to bring you into this world.
Abounding with/Prevailing – You are called to abound with or prevail with your father and your mother. This can be seen as simply being there in whatever way possible or needed at the time; whether physically, emotionally, spiritually, financially, socially etc.
What will be your response today?
WHY NOT DISHONOR?
This may be your question today.
Many of you are going through a lot because of what your mother or father did or did not do to or for you. Many of you didn’t have him or her around while growing up but God is saying to you today, just honor your father and your mother.
God is saying I have a great work for you to do. Don’t shorten your days by dishonoring your parents in their old age. Taking care of your parents is a command from God and He is letting you know that it is not going to be without rewards. Your days will be long in the land, which God has given you.
Why honor him or her when he or she has done nothing for me?
Why honor him or her when he or she has not been there for me?
Why honor him or her when all he or she does is talk about me?
Why honor him or her when all he or she did was abuse me?
God knows the pain and the hurt. He knows the anger on the inside of you, but He is telling you today to just let go. Let go and give it to Him because Jesus is the burden bearer. He said his yoke is easy.
1 Peter 5:7 says Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.
Matthew 11: 30 says For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.
God wants us healed and on the right track.
God knows that some of you have a “favourite” parent because that one has been the one to carry the load for all the years of your life, but He wants you to honor both of them. If one has gone on to eternity, then still honor the one that is still alive. Still do all in your might to show respect the one who remains because respect will lead you walk in the FULL purpose for which God has created you.
The word says that in the end times, children will be disobedient to parents:
But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty. For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. Avoid such people (2 Timothy 3:1-5)
God is calling us to step up our game in these end times. We are called to be obedient to and to respect our parents so that we won’t be cut off early from the land. The promise of God is long life in the land, which He has given to us once we honor, and prevail with our parents. We are not to give up on them because without them we would not be here alive.
Here are some scriptures to help strengthen you in your journey:
Proverbs 20:20 Whoso curseth his father or his mother, his lamp shall be put out in obscure darkness.
Exodus 21:17 And he that curseth his father, or his mother, shall surely be put to death.
Leviticus 20:9 If there is anyone who curses his father or his mother, he shall surely be put to death; he has cursed his father or his mother, his bloodguiltiness is upon him.
Proverbs 30:11 “There are those who curse their fathers and do not bless their mothers;
Deuteronomy 27:16 “Cursed is anyone who dishonors their father or mother.” Then all the people shall say, “Amen!”
Proverbs 30:17 The eye that mocks a father and scorns to obey a mother will be picked out by the ravens of the valley and eaten by the vultures.
Matthew 15:18-20 But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this defiles a person. For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander. These are what defile a person. But to eat with unwashed hands does not defile anyone.”
Exodus 21:15 Whoever strikes his father or his mother shall be put to death.
Proverbs 15:20 A wise son brings joy to his father, but a foolish man despises his mother.
HONOR YOUR MOTHER AND YOUR FATHER!
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