2 Samuel 3:2
“Sons were born to David in Hebron: his firstborn was Amnon, by Ahinoam the Jezreelitess.”
This is the first time and place where David officially ruled as king. Becoming a father is his next blessing. This is another positive change. Even though when most become parents and they are clueless.
I've heard it said that the less we focus on ourselves, the better. Marriage is the first blow to self absorption and becoming a parent is the second. I met a late thirties guy on a plane 15 years ago. He spoke about the wonderful life he and his wife had. I didn't disagree, but I tried to stress the blessing of children. It may have sunk in later, but it didn't at that time. They were completely self absorbed and wanted nothing to do with children.
The bible speaks of children as a blessing. Psalm 127:4 says, "Like arrows in the hand of a warrior, so are children born in one’s youth." The first blessing is taking one's eyes off ones' self. Why is that helpful? An easy answer is depression. Oddly enough focusing on sadness deepens it. While getting our minds off ourselves lightens it.
More blessings occur when we put others first. Jesus was all about serving and blessing others. That's what parenting is about. The child's needs supersedes ours. That's good for the child and for us.
I'm sure this helped David, but we'll see later on that David was a poor parent. One example is how Absolom sought to kill David and take the throne from him. There are other examples of David having little control over his family.
What we learn from this is that we will be given plenty of opportunities to sacrifice ourselves and put others first, but that doesn't mean we follow through. David was king and he may have busyed himself with his daily responsibilities and left parenting to the mother. David had multiple wives, which probably contributed to much insecurity in the wives, therefore to the children as well. If not poor security, then many other things could have been askew.
We are given the same opportunities for self sacrifice and service. We can ignore them. Some do. At the same time, if we put off the child's needs we are also disobeying God. He will convict us of that. To listen to God's warning is not only saving our lives, but the lives of our children.
What happens when we ignore His warnings? Proverbs 29:1 says, "A man who remains stiff-necked after much reproof will suddenly be shattered beyond recovery." We learn from Pharaoh that if we ignore God's voice our judgement gets skewed. Romans 1:18 says, "For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of people who suppress the truth in unrighteousness." To put off God's warning is suppressing the truth.
When we ignore God's voice, our judgement gets distorted. The Romans verse says that we invite the wrath of God. Verse 22 of Romans 1 says that, "Claiming to be wise, they became fools." What comes to mind are all the so-called experts with many degrees who miss the obvious wisdom that most godly people have. They are in their self congratulatory bubble and condescend on others. They further become fools.
To recap, we see David in a good time of life. He is legally reigning as king and his family is growing. The Lord also blesses us with children. May we heed His wisdom as we pour our lives into them.