Joyful dads, miserable mothers

Day 1

Proverbs 10:1 A wise son brings joy to his father, but a foolish son grief to his mother.

This proverb is not about the contrast between joyful fathers and grieving mothers but it's about the son's actions and how they reflect on the parent. As a proverb it is wisely placed at the beginning because the book of Proverbs presents us with two paths. Will we take the path of wisdom or will we take the path of foolishness? Proverbs is presented to us in the style of a father teaching the child. Perhaps we are to imagine Solomon sitting down with little Rehoboam and teaching him; you are going to have difficult decisions to take, this is how you are to make them.

A wise son has a teachable spirit, do we? Of course the Bible is our textbook and Paul says in 2 Timothy 3:16-17 All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. 2 Peter 1:3 tells us His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. By reading and applying the scripture we will be wise sons.

Sadly neither father nor son lived up to the standard set in this book; fortunately one greater than Solomon is here. Matthew 12:42

Early worms and hungry birds

Over the years I’ve gone from struggling with the book of Proverbs to really enjoying it. The key was a commentary and a preaching series; the commentary was the Proverbs edition of the New International Version Application Commentary by Paul Koptak and the preaching series was to the folks at Prettygate Baptist church and was supposed to be a short summer series but lasted till October. We focussed on the first nine chapters but kept getting tempted by more and more of the book. The general approach has been to look at the individual proverbs topically but Koptak helpfully shows that whilst they can stand alone the original compilers didn’t group them together randomly but linked them around key words and ideas not always obvious if you don’t speak Hebrew. I tend to rush reading these chapters where they demand time; this is an attempt to give them some time. Take a year maybe; let’s get to know Lady Wisdom, lets get some of her skill for living.

 

As we begin our look at Proverbs it’s worth stating the obvious that a proverb is a proverb; it’s not a doctrinal statement neither is it a truth for all situations at all times, rather it’s an honest observation of how life works. The early bird might catch the worm but it’s the early worm that gets eaten! We can describe them as tools to pull out of a box when needed, or skillful lessons for navigating life successfully.