Proverbs 23:15-16 Wise Words #13

Father to son wise words pour forth. The heart of the Father to His children. “If your heart is wise my heart too will be glad” (verse 15).

This is the best way to please a father and The Father. Having a heart that is wise in the wisdom of the Lord. What could be better than seeing your child safe in the arms of the Lord? In the knowledge of our Creator. To me; nothing except having that relationship with my Lord for myself.

As I wrote the above sentence I was reminded of the story of King Hezekiah. Hezekiah was a good and godly king but he had a few things he stumbled over. One of them was his pride when the Babylonians came for a visit. He showed them EVERYTHING he had. When he was rebuked by Isaiah for this, he was told that all that he had AND his sons would be carried off one day. Hezekiah’s immediate thought wasn’t for the welfare of his children, but for himself. I don’t know if he had children at this point yet because the words of Isaiah speak of future children. His own son would become the evilest king Judah ever had; King Manasseh.

Did Hezekiah invest his heart in seeing his children were taught the ways of the Lord? Did he focus only on his own relationship? After this event, we see him rely on man instead of God. This got him into BIG trouble with the Lord. Was this sin a result of heartache from considering Isaiah’s words? Did he finally see his children’s future and falter in his faith because of it?

As a parent, little thrills me more than seeing my children succeed. My heart swells with joy as my children rise above their troubles. Also, as a parent, my greatest sorrows are seeing my children falter. As I consider their current relationship with God, my heart weeps! I could NOT be Hezekiah, thinking only of his standing.

This is the heart of the father as he speaks to his son in our wise words today. His happiness is bound up in the relationship his son has with the Lord. Before the father could receive such joy, he had to first experience and model that relationship himself. He had to teach his son the value of following God. He had to impress upon him the absolute need for godly wisdom. He had to ‘set him up for success’.

Children learn best what is modeled before them. Their values are more ‘caught’ than ‘taught’. What we live in front of them has more impact than the words we speak to them. Even modeling the BEST relationship in front of them does not guarantee they will walk in your footsteps. Look at King Hezekiah again. His model was the WICKED King Ahaz. Yet, somehow, he forged a true relationship with the Lord. But he also fathered the WORST king Judah EVER had; his son King Manasseh. Who were their real models? It doesn’t appear to be their fathers on either side for King Hezekiah.

So, our joy over our children’s relationship with the Lord, comes from KNOWING the value of that relationship in our own lives first. Then modeling it in front of them. If everything we do looks just like the world, why would they want a relationship that requires more? Invest in their future by first investing in your own relationship with the Lord. You can’t ‘teach’ what you don’t ‘know’ first.

For those of us who have made that ‘investment’ and modeled it for our children, God holds out hope when they are not walking in relationship with Him. We ran into that promise earlier on here in Proverbs; “Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it” (Proverbs 22:6).

Father God, THANK YOU for entrusting me with the lives of each of my children. Forgive me for the times I fell short in modeling a TRUE relationship with You. Did my issues undermine their faith? I PRAY NOT! But if it is so, help me repair the damage. Better yet; please repair the damage in their hearts Yourself. I KNOW it will be done correctly when it is done by you! Let my joy be made FULL by seeing their lives turn back to You.