“YOUTH – THE JOYS AND RESPONSIBILITIES”
“Josiah was eight years old when he began to reign, and he reigned thirty and one years in Jerusalem. And his mother’s name was Jedidah, the daughter of Adaiah of Boscath. And he did that which was right in the sight of the LORD, and walked in all the way of David his father, and turned not aside to the right hand or to the left”(2 Kings 22:1-2). Eight years old when he began to reign!
Young folks want to be old and old folks want to be young. Man is never satisfied. Every age has its joys and responsibilities. It was a young Josiah that brought God’s people out of darkness (1 Kings 22); a young Da-vid that delivered them from the Philistines by killing the giant and a young Daniel that determined “…That he would not defile himself with the portion of the king’s meat, nor with the wine which he drank…” (Dan. 1:8).
Recently Janet and I were eating in a local restaurant and were seated near a group of young people, probably late teens or early twenties. They were laughing, cutting up, having a good time but they were not out of place, or disturbing. To me there is nothing more fun than to be with excited teens. Pardon the personal illustration: I remember how much fun it was to go out to dinner with April and her friends when they were in college. On one occasion there was April, Kim Johnson, Jamie Wheeler, Bryan Adams (now April’s husband) and Vonda Stafford. There was a lot of cutting up but out of that group came two medical doctors and a Pharmacist. That is one of the joys of being young.
Never underestimate the power and influence of youth. The Bible recognizes it in thy following passages:
1 Timothy 4:12 – “Let no man despise thy youth; but be thou an example of the believers, in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity.”
Ecclesiastes 11:9 – “Rejoice, O young man, in thy youth; and let thy heart cheer thee in the days of thy youth, and walk in the ways of thine heart, and in the sight of thine eyes: but know thou, that for all these [things] God will bring thee into judgment.”
Ecclesiastes 12:1 – “Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth, while the evil days come not, nor the years draw nigh when thou shalt say, I have no pleasure in them;”
Psalms 119:9 – “Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? by taking heed [thereto] according to thy word.”
1 Samuel 17:33 – “And Saul said to David, Thou art not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him: for thou [art but] a youth, and he a man of war from his youth.”
The world has seen the successes of youth. For example, “Did you ever hear of Bob Feller? Pitching for the Cleveland Indians at age 17, Feller struck out 15 batters on his first game as a starting pitcher, a record for a debut. He struck out a major league record (at the time) 17 batters only two weeks later. Feller became the first pitcher to ever have a 24 win season before the age of 21. Feller’s first season with the Indians was the summer before his senior year in high school!”
I like the statement, “Youth comes but once in a lifetime…” God said to Jeremiah, “Before I formed thee in the belly, I knew thee…” (Jer. 1:5).
Yes, there are joys and responsibilities of youth.
