“My son” (December ‘08)
The next occurrence of “my son” in the book of Proverbs appears
to fall into a series of ‘stand-alone’ proverbs in the previous verses. But,
the Lord inserted it right at this spot for good reason because He is dealing
with sons in general in the previous verses.
“A
foolish son is the calamity of his father” (v.13)…”Chasten thy son while there
is hope, and let not thy soul spare for his crying” (v.18)…”He that wastes his
father, and chases away his mother, is a son that causes shame, and brings
reproach.” (v.26) Then “my son”
occurs in the very next verse:
“Cease, my son, to hear the
instruction that causes to err from the words of knowledge.” (Proverbs
19:27)
The son
that is “foolish” becomes a “calamity” to his father when he does not listen to his
father’s “words of knowledge” but
instead listens to “the instruction that causes [him] to err”. A good illustration of this is when the preacher’s
son decides that he knows better practicing his own religion causing him to
focus on the words of men and not the precious Word of God.
The son that needs chastening often times
is in that position because he refuses to follow the wisdom and instruction
from his earthly father and as Hebrews 12 teaches it is then necessary to
receive chastening from his heavenly Father.
This brings to pass ‘God’s Spiritual Aerobics’, and we are “exercised” (Hebrews 12:11, 5:14) eventually producing His
desired result!
The son that “wastes his father and
chases away his mother” displays the nasty
spirit of rebellion by rejecting the God-ordained authority so lovingly given
by the Lord. This action by the son often times is induced by pride which says:
“The
old man is nuts, and Mom is out to lunch…I don’t need them or their advice…I
can stand on my own two feet!”
And as the modern quip “Hire the young
while they still know everything” implies, the time will come when the
young-uns will wake up and recognize they don’t know everything and Dad and Mom
are getting smarter by the day. But, many times it is too late to “salvage” the
next generation, and the grand-children are the ones who suffer!
This “instruction that causes to
err” comes from all kinds of sources. It might
be the guy next door or the co-worker that has “polished” his practice or
world-view so that it sounds like he knows the best way to get the job done
even though you have to violate Bible principles and cut corners in order to
make a buck!
The best source of instruction or counsel
is first of all the Word of God, then your parents, then your Pastor/older men.
I can remember learning this
lesson early on in my Christian life when the boss at work was treating me with
contempt, wanting me to partake in things that were not right to do in business.
I was in middle management with a group of engineers working for me and I was
ultimately forced to get out of supervision and go back to design engineering.
But, before I did, I counseled with our
Pastor, thinking he would tell me to ‘run away’ from this boss of mine. But, to
my surprise he taught me this most valuable principle. Stay under authority
regardless and appeal to God allowing Him to change the circumstances if He
wants to relieve the pressure…but don’t do wrong in the meantime…show respect
for your authority!
And, this command (I Peter 2:18) worked
like all in the Word. God honored my obedience and taught me an invaluable
lesson. Not too long after that, I was in another pinch, and went to my
un-saved Dad for counsel because it involved something we did together before I
was saved. We bought a pop-up camper in partnership.
But, when Betsy and I sold our store, we
did not immediately remove the camper from the property and the new owner would
not allow us take it home. When I talked to Dad about it, he got this look in
his eye and said: ‘I’ll take care of this’ and he drove up to the store we
owned, walked in, talked to the man, and proceeded to hook up his Jeep to the
camper and left!
I was hesitant to do the same because we
had a sales agreement with the new store-owner and did not know exactly what
the outcome would be…so I counseled with Dad. Parents are the best people to go
to if you need counsel…they are number two after God…regardless of their
spiritual condition. However you must take that into consideration as you
discern exactly what the will of God is in the matter.
Solomon’s wisdom continues to work today,
bringing forth fruit in the kingdom of God which is fed by the Word of God and
is operating non-stop, 24-7, through the Holy Spirit’s power, so that all we as
Christians have to do is:
“Seek ye first the kingdom of
God and all these things will be added unto you.” (Matthew 6:33)
“How much more shall your
heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask Him?” (Luke 11:13)
“The Words that I speak unto
you, they are Spirit, they are life.” (John 6:63)
“This Book of the Law shall not
depart out of thy mouth but thou shalt meditate
therein, day and night, that
thou may observe to do according to all that is written therein, for then thou shall make thy way prosperous
and then thou shall have good
success.” (Joshua 1:8)
“Blessed is the man that walks not in the counsel of the
ungodly…but his delight is in
the Law of the LORD” (Psalm 1:1,3)
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