In the fear of the Lord there is strong confidence, And his children will have refuge.   Proverbs 14:26

It is in the book of Proverbs that we learn that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.  Only when we have a proper respect and fear of God will we understand things as we ought to in life.  It is a lack of fearing God that leads to sin and to ungodly behavior and choices.  Thus it should be no shock to us that the fear of the Lord brings us a strong confidence in how we live, what we say, and in how we look to the future.  The fool has no such confidence in life.  Their brief forays into confidence are mere moments of braggadoccio that fade into insignificance when suffering and death make their appearance. 

Confidence comes to the man or woman of God because they fear the Lord.  They truly know the end of the story - which is that man will stand in the judgment before a holy God.  That seems a little odd at first because we read in the book of Hebrews that it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of an angry God.  But for the one who fears the Lord, that day will not involve falling into the hands of a yet angry and wrathful God.  Wisdom has told him to run to God's provision of forgiveness and grace which is in Jesus Christ.  When we do this we know that the wrath of God fell upon His own Son, so that we might be forgiven and granted great grace by our loving Father.

When we choose to fear God now - we will not have to cower in terror later.  We fear God now - looking in absolute terror at the cross and what God truly requires in His holiness to pay for the debt of sin.  It is in seeing what had to be done to Christ Jesus to pay for sin that we cringe in horror at what our wickedness truly costs.  But when we embrace Jesus Christ, receiving the gift of repentance and faith, our sins are gone.  Thus there is no longer the "terror of the Lord" at the thought of judgment, but rather a strong confidence that our anchor will hold.  Jesus Christ has paid all that there is to pay - and we are forgiven and free. 

The second part of this proverb is vital for us to see as well.  We are told that the children of the man who fears the Lord will have a a refuge.  This points to the fact that if a man truly knows the Lord, his greatest desire is for his children to know his Savior as well.  The refuge that his children have is first seen in how he rears them and teaches them the Scriptures.  What a wonderful refuge is provided by a set of godly parents to their children as they grow up in the Lord.  The parents may not be perfect, but they provide an example of two who walk with the Lord - and who look to Him for their hope and their salvation.  They also do their very best to teach their children the things of the Lord and the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.  They pray for their children and do all that they can to see that they follow them in their pursuit of Jesus Christ in life. 

God desires for men to be saved.  That is a given when you read the Scriptures.  But there is more.  He also desires that there be many godly generations descending from a family who have come to Christ.  This is the legacy that comes to children and grandchildren - and even great grandchildren of those whose parents fear the Lord.  Oh that we would see this and live in the fear of God.  Oh that we would provide a lasting refuge - a lasting legacy of godliness and gospel-led lives to our children - and even to many generations of our families.

Be wise, my son, and make my heart glad, That I may reply to him who reproaches me. Proverbs 27:11

When we have wise sons it is a joy to our hearts as fathers.  That is why it is so vital that the current generation of fathers take on the task of rearing a generation of sons who reject this present evil world and its ways and choose instead to live according to the wisdom God offers to us in the Scriptures. 

What I think we have here is the frustrated cry of a father.  He is frustrated because he desires for his son to be wise - yet, he is facing criticism and reproach because he is not.  It may be the cry of a father who has seen men before him - godly men in their own right - and yet they were subject to reproach because of the character and choices of their sons after them.  The father may have been a man of God - a man of great godly character and actions.  He may have been a leader - an example himself.  The problem is that his son does not walk in the same way. 

Think about Samuel the prophet for a moment in this light.  He was a man of God - unparalleled in how he served God with all his heart.  Yet the one thing that caused the downfall of his ministry - was the way that his sons lived.  At the close of his life the people of Israel asked for a king.  They asked, not because Samuel was inadequate as a prophet.  They asked because by their own admission, Samuel's sons did not walk in his ways.  Samuel, as godly as he was - had not learned the lesson of Eli's lack of godly fathering of his sons.  Eli's sons were ungodly - and their actions led to the people not being led by godly men.  Now, Samuel, after seeing God bring Israel back to Himself - now watched as they rejected the Lord as king over them - because they would have to trust Samuel's sons to lead them after Samuel's death.  This they did not want - because Samuel's sons were not men of God. 

The cry of a godly father who is reproached when his sons do not walk in his ways - is that they would be wise and godly.  But as we look back on much of biblical history - it is one littered with godly men whose very sons did not follow in their daddy's footsteps.  So what are we to learn here from this passage about wisdom?

Fathers, please hear me for a few moments here.  You may have a legacy in your own actions that blows everyone away - but it will mean little to you later in life if your sons do not walk in your ways.  God calls us as fathers to love our children by rearing them to walk with Him.  That is a task that we cannot ignore - no matter how successful we are.  It will come to haunt us - as it did Samuel, as it did Solomon, as it did Hezekiah.  These men were all godly in their own right - but their sons did not walk in their ways.  In all three cases, the legacy of these men was not carried on through their sons.  They turned from following the Lord and the result was pretty disastrous for them - and for the people whom they were supposed to lead. 

Wisdom is found in a father who leads and teaches his son to walk wisely.  He does so as one of the most important things he can possibly do in life.  The detriment to our society and the church within it cannot be possibly be calculated because our sons often do not walk in our ways.  Men leave carnage behind them when they do not walk with God.  God wants men to lead in spiritual matters - but when they don't - or sadly can't - what they leave behind is much reason for us to reproach their fathers for not making as an ultimate priority the responsibility to bring up godly sons after them.