In our homeschool co-op chapel time I am teaching through the book of Proverbs. This past Monday we were focusing on Proverbs 10:1
The proverbs of Solomon.
A wise son makes a father glad,
But a foolish son is a grief to his mother.
As I prepared for this lesson I noticed that God restates this phrase in various ways at least ten times in the book of Proverbs alone:
Proverbs 13:1 Proverbs 15:20
Proverbs 17:21 Proverbs 17:25
Proverbs 23:24 Proverbs 27:11
Proverbs 29:3 Proverbs 29:15
Proverbs 29:17
I think this is a word… a message… a thought of God that He seriously is trying to convey the importance of to us… not just in relation to our earthly parents but to Him as well. As I began sharing this verses with the diverse ages in our chapel I wanted to first give a picture of what it kind of looks like when a wise son makes a father’s heart glad.
As we watch this interaction between father and son, we see what happens when a father realizes that his son has made that move from “foolish boy” to “wise son”. When this happens we see a mutual respect explode and blossom between the father and son. Father realizes that son has been listening, learning, and is ready to apply and the son realizes that the father believes in him and he boldly makes his move as his father supports him, shouting, “listen to my son!” The mutual respect becomes oh the more evident when we see the son proudly say, “that’s my dad!” Nemo, no doubt, showed himself to be a wise son who made his father glad.
Now for the second part of Proverbs 10:1…
As we watch, Merida thinks she is going to show her mother who is boss. Merida is foolish. She is so foolish that when this act backfires, and harms the relationship with her mother even more, she goes to a witch, gets a potion to change her mother to do what she wants her to do, and ends up turning her into a bear. Merida’s foolishness almost destroys her mother and the kingdom. What we have in this example is a lack of mutual respect and Merida’s foolishness was a grief to her mother.
In watching the Finding Nemo clip we see a snippet of a son who grew in wisdom and found favor with his father and those around him… this is a cute example, but our best example is found in the Person of Christ…
In the book of Luke as we are introduced to the baby Jesus we learn that
The Child continued to grow and become strong, increasing in wisdom; and the grace of God was upon Him.
Luke 2:40
We learn further on in this book that Jesus did not just grow in wisdom in such a way to impress only Himself, or even to just impress God the Father, but as He grew in wisdom, He grew in stature, and He grew in favor with God and man.
And Jesus kept increasing in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men.
Luke 2:52
Jesus grew in such a way that the Father placed full confidence in Him and pointed others to Him… as Nemo’s Dad swam up telling all the other fish to listen to His Son, God the Father made the same declaration of His Own…
While he was still speaking, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and behold, a voice out of the cloud said, “This is My beloved Son, with whom I am well-pleased; listen to Him!”
Matthew 17:5
As I began to share with our co-op families in chapel that day, I began to encourage the kids to trust in the love their parents had for them, reminding them that no one would ever love them as their parents… as I scanned the room my eyes caught the beautiful face of a young man who I knew was living with one of our families within the context of the foster care program. It was here when the Lord said, readjust…
I immediately changed my wording from parents, from mother and father, to saying, those who God had given them to take care of them… because as I shared I knew that when I said mother, when I said father, I meant those who are pouring their life into them, whether they be foster parents, adopted parents, grandparents, or their birth parents, but they might not, and I wanted them to know that God was not leaving them out.
Jesus, once again, is our example in this.
I think we sometimes forget that Jesus lived with a surrogate mother and an adoptive father. Yet we never once have Him recorded as turning around and telling them He didn’t have to listen to them because they were not His momma and daddy. No. We are given the opposite.
And He went down with them and came to Nazareth, and He continued in subjection to them; and His mother treasured all these things in her heart.
Luke 2:51
God the Father had placed His Son in the family of Mary and Joseph, these two would love Him, care for Him, provide for Him, educate Him, and train Him up in life… Jesus was to listen to them just as He was to listen to God the Father.
In looking at the relationship of Christ with His earthly parents we see that He always honored them… He honored them until His last breathe… and in looking at the relationship between Jesus and God the Father we see that Jesus only did what His Father asked Him to do… not once do we have Jesus turning around and saying, “I don’t think so Daddy, I am tired of living My life the way You said I have too, You don’t care about what I want, You only want Me to do Your will, well I ain’t havin’ it no more!“
However, when you look at the programs set up for our kids in this modern day… is that not the message they preach to our children?
How many teen/preteen movies and television shows have this underlining theme between the kids and those who cared for them? How thankful I am that Jesus did not bow up and say, “No, Dad I’m throwing away Your’s”
No Jesus didn’t say that… He said the opposite
And He went a little beyond them, and fell on His face and prayed, saying, “My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; yet not as I will, but as You will.”
Matthew 26:39
Now please know that I fully understand that parents are not perfect (I know I’m not), and I understand there really are parents who attempt to live vicariously through their kids, and I am sure there are even parents who have no clue what the gifts and talents of their kids are, and I am sure there are parents who have not even considered dreaming of a future and a hope with or for their kids… but I dare say that if you have been so blessed to be placed within the home and under the authority of people who love you and love God… listen to them. They do what they do and they say what they say, because they only want to see you succeed in life. So just take it all in and evaluate it. See if there be any good sense in it before you rebel against it.
A wise son makes a father glad,
But a foolish son is a grief to his mother.
God said it at least ten times, we might should listen.
Not only did He say it at least ten times, bit He spent nine previous chapters teaching us the importance of listening to the words and commands and instructions of our father and our mother. It is in listening that we grow in wisdom… even unwise words can be used to increase our own wisdom when we choose to weigh them against the absolute truth of the Word of God.
If by chance, you read this and you never had a mother or father who sought to see you succeed in life… hang on to this beloved…
You have been my help;
Do not abandon me nor forsake me,
O God of my salvation!
For my father and my mother have forsaken me,
But the Lord will take me up.
Teach me Your way, O Lord, and lead me in a level path…
Psalm 27:9-11
Beloved, is not our goal, our deepest desire as a son or daughter of God, to have Him look at us and say, “That’s my child, with whom I am well-pleased, well done, well done my good and faithful servant.“
Oh and are you not just giddy to point our Heavenly Father out and say “That’s my Dad! That’s my God!“
When we come to the Father through Jesus Christ His Son, we have to ready and willing to say, God my dreams don’t matter, my will means nothing, I don’t care what I have to let go, who I have to walk away from, as long as I am Yours… not my will… but Yours be done… no matter what.