Apprenticeship’s over, and so is schooling. Time to be a man.”
–Chris Bennett (Road to Revolution)
“For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”
–Ephesians 2:10 (NIV)
————————–
We see here beginning in chapter 10 of Proverbs what is called antithetical parallelism. This is a positive phrase followed by a negative phrase. Mike Leake adds that these proverbs are the “path to truth in a misinformation age.” I might also add that most translations use the term “son” where it does mean child of either sex. As we see in verse 1, the NLT translates, “the wise child…”
–“A wise son makes a glad father, but a foolish son is the grief of his mother.” –NKJV
–“A wise son makes a glad father, but a foolish son is a sorrow to his mother.” –ESV
–“A wise child brings joy to a father; a foolish child brings grief to a mother.” –NLT
It would be an interesting study of the Bible to see the stories of wise and foolish sons. Sons who either blessed their parents or cursed them; bring joy or grief. This begins at the beginning with Adam and Eve. Cain brought a curse, Seth a blessing; Esau a curse, Isaac a blessing; and on down to David, Absalom a curse, Solomon a blessing.
With verse 1 there is a need to keep in mind Proverbs 1:7 and 9:10: wisdom begins with the fear of the Lord. “All wisdom flows from that spring. The foolish son despises the Lord and His instruction. And so it is in our relationship to the Lord that we bring our parents’ joy.” (Bob Beasley) It is important to remember that the parents are to give godly instruction to their children, but it is still the decision of the individual child to choose to take it to heart or not.
Grief versus gladness is the reality of life. The words that the parents speak are important, but as J.L. Flores points out, “whether parents shall have gladness or grief in their children depends not so much upon the excellence of their words as upon the godliness of their lives.” Our lives dictate much of what our children will perceive and hang on to. Words and life go together and as Mike Leake points out, “The more a lie is shared the more it feels true.” A child is to be given the truth, shown the truth and the child must choose the world’s view or the truth of God’s Word. “The babbling fool comes to ruin; his reality isn’t grounded in truth.” (Leake)
Know this, “The child’s behavior affects both parents. Both parents find their joy or sadness in their child who demonstrates skill in life.” (NKJV Study Bible) Therefore, as children of Father in heaven, our greatest calling then is to bring our heavenly Father joy.