Category: A Father's Teaching

Two Paths Diverged in Life - and Taking the Wise One Made All the Difference

4/10/2018

Proverbs 2:20-22 So you will walk in the way of good men And keep to the paths of the righteous. For the upright will live in the land And the blameless will remain in it; But the wicked will be cut off from the land And the treacherous will be uprooted from it.

One of the things that I like most about the wisdom that comes from studying Proverbs is that it both warns and encourages. This wonderful collection of wise sayings not only warns us of ungodly ways and people — and calls us to avoid them. It also encourages us to live positively — to both know godly good people and to follow in their footsteps. That is what we have here in the 3 verses that wrap up chapter 2.

Earlier in this chapter we were told that wisdom would deliver us from the evil man and the strange (adulterous or sexually impure) woman. It is wise to know what evil looks like — acts like — thinks like — and therefore know what to avoid. But here in the wrap-up of the chapter we see that God also tells us that wisdom will help us “walk in the way of good men” as well as “keep to the paths of the righteous.”

There is a walk that the good man has. It is a walk that here is spoken of as a lifestyle. The word “derek” which we’ve come to know throughout the Proverbs refers to a way of walking or a lifestyle is used here. It is referred to as the lifestyle of “good men.” This word good is one anyone would want to be descriptive of their life. The is the Hebrew word “tob” which means to have a happy lifestyle, a pleasing lifestyle, a loved lifestyle, and a favored lifestyle. The good man walks in the sight of God, seeking to please and honor Him by walking in HIs wisdom, which we’ve come to know is seeing things as God sees them. This good man experiences God’s joy, love, and favor because of this. This is also referred to as walking in “paths of the righteous.” This is simply walking in a path of life where we do what is right as God reveals to us what is right. When we live this way we will experience God’s blessing in our lives rather than His punishment.

The father/teacher reminds his son of the two paths that are available for people to take in life. This was a theme that is throughout Scripture. We can choose obedience or disobedience. We can choose submission or rebellion. The two paths lay before us as we see God and His ways. We can either choose to live “upright,” which means to walk straight in God’s paths - not diverging from His way - OR - we can choose to be wicked - choosing a life that is unfaithful to God and therefore described as very evil. But the father/teacher wisely informs his son/pupil of the consequences of such choices. The evil way is pictured as a tree being first cut down and then uprooted so that there is no remnant of it around. That is the future for the one who chooses to be unfaithful to God. Even when we cannot see it immediately in this life, the fact is that there will be a day where the wicked will be utterly cut off for all eternity. The one who chooses the good way will stretch out and rest in the land. That is what is meant by the phrase “live in the land.” The godly person will also remain in the land. The word for remain is interesting. It is Hebrew word “yathar” and it means to jut out over - which meant to exceed or to abound. The word came to mean a situation in which so much abundance existed that it almost was too much. The man who walks in godly wisdom will have so much of God’s favor and goodness in his life that he will think it almost too much. “God You are blessing me beyond my ability to contain it all!”

Someone might say after reading this, “But often I see the ungodly seeming to prosper right now — and the godly dealing with difficult times? If God has promised super-abounding blessing, I sure don’t see it.” Here is where we need to grasp the eternal perspective rather than one that dwells only in the here and now. We live on this earth maybe 70-80 years (if that long) and then it is over in this life. The Word of God reminds us that after this life is over — there is eternity either in God’s presence or in hell. For the wicked this means he is living on infinitely borrowed time. For the godly, wise man this means that at the very worst — he will have a few moments of difficulty and sorrow before everlasting joy and happiness in God’s presence. And to be perfectly honest with you - I know of people who have little and what little they have is experienced in difficulty. Yet they know joy that cannot be measured by an abundance of stuff — or even having an easily lived life. I also know of those who have had abundance and riches — an easy life — and who search, even in the midst of their abundance, for just a little true joy and find little to none. To know God and the wisdom of God is far better than riches, abundance, a life of ease, or anything else. For the light and momentary problems of this life (and remember Paul was referring to things like public floggings and shipwrecks) cannot compare to the eternal weight of glory that awaits us in His presence for all eternity.

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Listen to Dad! Proverbs 13:1

1/13/2010

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A wise son accepts his father's discipline, But a scoffer does not listen to rebuke. Proverbs 13:1

Ours is a soceity where fathers are abandoning their biblical position. The result is a soceity where things are unfortunately falling apart at an alarming rate. What is even more alarming is how badly the biblical portrait of fatherhood is under attack by the entertainment, educational, and political elite of our day. There are many who think a man's usefulness is at its maximum shortly after the conception of a child. The Bible knows no such view.

This proverb is actually addressed to sons who desire to be wise. The wise son is the one who listens to his father's disciplinary words and ideas. The word for discipline here is "musar" and it means to discipline throuh instruction. It is when a father speaks with his son in correction of his attitudes and actions. This is something that is desperately needed for a child. Foolishness is bound up within his heart - and something and someone must address the wrong thinking that the child has - and will destroy the child if left alone.

The father is to offer these words of rebuke and correction. That means that the view that we are naturally good is false. We are not naturally good. The Bible teaches that we are fallen and are given over to a worldly wisdom that is very destructive. Thus we need a godly father to speak the truth to us and to encourage us toward the ways of God.

The son who does not listen to this helpful rebuke, is called a "scoffer." This is an interesting Word. It means to scorn, deride, and mock another. Here it speaks of how the son does not honor the father or his instruction. He won't listen to rebuke or correction. He mocks it instead - thinking that the things his father says to him will not happen - nor will his own actions bring any kind of difficulty. Yet, the truth is that when a godly father's instruction is ingored and mocked - the son is in for a bumpy road filled with grief and problems.

A father's instruction is invaluable to a son or daughter. Do not ignore it - or mock it. It is god's way of offering to the next generation the wisdom it needs to prosper and be blessed. Keep it and the blessing with be yours - ignore it only at your own peril.

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Best Protection Against Adultery - Watch Your Heart! Proverbs 7:24-25

1/7/2010

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Now therefore, my sons, listen to me, And pay attention to the words of my mouth. Do not let your heart turn aside to her ways, Do not stray into her paths. Proverbs 7:24-25

After giving a graphic description of the way a man falls into the trap of the harlot, the Holy Spirit gives a conclusion. God begins by having the father call for his sons to listen and pay attention. Here is a huge problem - and one I understand. Most people know the thing they should do - when it comes to adultery and to visiting a prostitute. The problem is not knowing - it is listening when someone is warning them. Therefore people have to be warned in a way that scares you to death.

The first thing that is said to the son is that he does not need to turn aside to her ways in his heart. There is the first problem when it comes to men who get caught up in sexual immorality and adultery. Their hearts are the first thing to go. This manifests itself first in seeing their hearts no longer being given to the Lord. In the third chapter of Revelation Jesus says to the church that they've lost their first love - that love that draws them to the Lord and has them belong to Him more than anything else.

I've seen this before in young people - old people - anyone who finds themselves drawn away to sexual sin. They start when they no longer have that passion for Christ. They turn to someone other than the Lord - looking for satisfaction - for something to fill their emptiness. They find that the Lord is not enough - and that they will actually find what they need in someone else. That is how a man allows himself to "turn his heart" to her ways. When his heart is gone - there is a real serious danger - because at that point he probably won't listen. It isn't too much to say - he can't listen - because his heart controls what his ears will listen to in life.

Once he has strayed in his heart from the Lord - and into her ways - then he begins to stray into her paths. He begins walking without the normal cautions that he would have naturally. But worse than this is the fact that he is walking without the guidance of the Holy Spirit. He is grieving the Holy Spirit so his warnings are no longer being heeded. This is a very dangerous place to be. When he does stray into her paths - there will not be the protection that he normally has. Thus - it will be that much easier to fall into sin.

Here is why we need to watch and pray for our chidlren - and honestly - ourselves as well. The issue is our hearts. That is what we are told earlier in Proverbs - watch your heart with all diligence - for from it flow the springs of life. This is so important - vitally important. THE most important thing that will keep you from falling into adultery and sexual immorality is to watch and guard your heart!

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The Importance of Speaking to Your Child's Heart . . . Proverbs 3:1

1/3/2010

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My son, do not forget my teaching, But let your heart keep my commandments; Proverbs 3:1

This is a short statement but one full of meaning for the father who desires to teach his son true wisdom. This is because the godly father wants to teach his son the things of the Lord - the Scriptures. He knows that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom - and that this comes from knowing God according to His self-revelation to us, which we call the Bible.

The father here is pleading with his son not to forget the teaching (torah). This word speaks of the general instruction in the way of the Lord. This is something about which every father should be deeply concerned. He does not want his sons to forget or to lay aside in their minds the teaching about the Lord. This is the key to living a happy life - a life that God can use - and a life that will not bring His discipline upon it. The father pleads with his son for this simply because one of the sins that we see most often in the hearts of God's people is simply to forget this - the simple teaching of knowing, loving, and following the Lord.

The way this godly father addresses this need is by calling his son to let his "heart" keep God's commandments. Here is a key to having godly children. Speak to their hearts - not just their heads. Dad, be passionate about the things of the Lord so that when you speak, your sons and daughters will hear that passion and know you speak with them of things that are vitally important! This is not just religion that you practice for a hour or two on Sundays and Wednesdays - this is life itself. When we speak to our children's hearts - we are placing the Word in the most valuable place we can. We are stating to our kids that we want to win and maintain their hearts - not just for ourselves - but more importantly for the Lord their God.

Here is wisdom, Dad. Win and keep your child's heart. Speak for this purpose and you will have a child who will grow up not just "going to church," but living for God with all that they are and all that they have.

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Victory Wreaths of the Parental Kind . . . Proverbs 1:8-9

1/1/2010

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Hear, my son, your father's instruction And do not forsake your mother's teaching; Indeed, they are a graceful wreath to your head And ornaments about your neck. Proverbs 1:8-9

Why do we need to listen to our fathers and mothers? It is because God intends for us to learn of Him through them. If you watch television and listen to the dominant voices in our society you will hear this particular admonition greatly militated against. Our world wants us to make our own path and decide what we believe for ourselves - or at least when they are trying to influence us. There are those who think that a child who is being trained and taught diligently by their parents is being indoctrinated. Their answer is to stop this child abuse and let children make up their own minds concerning how they respond to the message from the fallen world. Of course you see what this brings when you look at society today and the direction that most children are going.

God says for a child to hear his father's instruction. Just a brief word to fathers as this begins. Dads . . . are you instructing your children in the things of the Lord? Do they hear you speak of the things of God often - and in a didactic fashion? Part of our problem today is that fathers don't take their roles seriously. They abandon the rearing of their children to their mothers and to the world. They figure that the educational system will do this work along with the mother. But God does not see it this way - in fact - He does not even want the father to abandon the teaching of his children to the church - or the Sunday School. This can be a valuable ally - but nothing can replace a godly dad teaching his children the things of the Lord.

Something that may even be more shocking to our current climate of child-rearing is the fact that this word "instruction" means more than just word of mouth. It means to chastise and discipline a child. The word here is used more of this than anything else. The ideas of discipline, chastening, punishment, reproof and warning far outweigh the idea of instruction here. This is a father taking the time to teach his son and daughter - but with more than just ideas. The dad is teaching and training - using correction and chastening to drive the point home to the child who is to be learning from him. What is told to the child? Hear this - don't tune dad out when he offers chastening and instruction. Listen and live - and be blessed. It is so vital to a child's well-being to listen and to do so soberly!

The child is also told to not forsake the teaching of the mother. Her teaching is not to be tossed aside and left behind. That is the idea being passed on to the child. He or she should take the mom's teaching and hold it fast - not allowing it to be cast to the side in favor of the world and what it seeks to teach that child. The mom is to "lay down the law" here - as the word for teaching is actually torah - which is the Word used to describe God's Law. Yes, there is a desperate need for rules and for expected actions and attitudes in a child. And YES - the mother and the father need to work together not only teaching these things - but also enforcing them with discipline when necessary.

Rather than just issue this command, God's Word lets the child know what is coming when they do listen and follow. This teaching and discipline will be a "graceful wreath to your head" and "ornaments about your neck." The wreath spoke of conquest and victory. When a child listens and learns from the Godly teaching and discipline of his father and mother - that child is going to gain valuable victories early in life over the flesh and over that part of himself or herself that rebels against the world. Oh, what a blessing it is when parents help a child early in life to obey - to submit their will to another - to surrender their rights when being directed in life. The worldling child knows little of this - and often is taught to rebel against God's ways and commandments. There is already a fatal flaw in us in this regard - and we so desperately need to learn to respond to God aright.

Children - learn to listen and follow the word and the warning of your parents. It will go a long way to preparing you for the world you face. But even more importantly it will help you listen to the God Who will draw you to Himself for the purpose of salvation and a life turned to the right!

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Desiring the Hearts of our Sons - Proverbs 23:26-28

12/23/2009

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Give me your heart, my son, And let your eyes delight in my ways. For a harlot is a deep pit And an adulterous woman is a narrow well. Surely she lurks as a robber, And increases the faithless among men. Proverbs 23:26-28

Why should a man ask for the hearts of his children - especially the hearts of his sons? That is a good question because in our day we are told that our children need to think for themselves - which is true. The problem comes when that statement is made meaning that they should throw off the beliefs and morals of their parents and adopt the foolish morals of society itself. That is not wisdom but the height of foolishness. From what is said here by the Lord in verses 26-28 we will see why this is such a bad thing for the sons of a society to do.

The plea of the father is simple - he wants to have his son's heart. He asks for it very plainly - and restates his request so that we understand that for which he asks. He wants his son to delight in his ways. The request is that his son sets or places his heart in the hands of his father. The restatement of that request lets us see that the father desires for his son to adopt and take up his ways. But this is not a request for the son to grudgingly take up his father's ways - but rather that the son would "delight" in them. "Ratsah" is delight and it means to accept something favorably - to be pleased with it. The father desires for his son to enjoy and favor the ways that he teaches him. This is nothing more than passing to our son the same way we live - to pass our morals and our beliefs to them. And we will see in the very next verse why this is important.

Whose job is it to pass to the next generation the things of God and the ways of the Lord? It is the job of the father to do this - and if the father does not take this task seriously - the problems of this passage will riase their ugly head in any society.

When a son does not delight in the godly ways of a godly father, what results is that the desires of his lower nature take over and head in a hell-ward direction. One of the first things that will show itself is the lusts of his flesh. Granted this is a two way street - for the one he is warned of is the harlot - the immoral woman. The truth is that without the influence of godly fathers, the daughters also turn away from the things of the Lord - and find that their fallen nature takes over in their choices as well.

The son is warned that the harlot is a deep pit. In Proverbs 22:14 this deep pit is identified as the mouth and voice of the harlot and the prostitute. She lures one in with her words and with her enticing promises of sex that is beyond that which marital life can offer. The fool is the one who listens to her - draws near - and then falls into this deep pit. And for what reason is a deep pit dug other than to lure the unsuspecting animal near for the capture and the kill. The end of the matter is death and destruction. One finds himself lying broken in the bottom of the pit with no way out. so also is the adulterous one - who begins thinking only of pleasure and ends knowing nothing but guilt and destruction.

The "adulterous" woman here is actually the "strange" or "foreign" woman. God warned against these women because of how they would tempt His people to leave Him and worship their foreign gods instead. Interesting is the fact that the vast majority of this alien worship involved sexual immorality and the abandonment of the marriage vow and the defilement of the marriage bed. This foreign or strange woman is described as a "narrow well." The word here for well is "beer" and it can mean either a well of refreshing water - or a narrow pit that only offers entrapment and misery. What I find fascinating about the use of this word is that God encourages us elsewhere in Proverbs to "drink water from your own well," in reference to the sexual relationship in marriage. But when we abandon our "own well," and go out into the streets seeking illicit sexual affairs - we move from our own well to a narrow pit that holds no water - but rather holds us in our sin and disgrace as the illicit sexual activity destroys our families and our marriages.

While the foreign woman promises incredible sexual ecstacies to the fool she seeks to entice, the truth is that she is lurking like a predator, ready to pounce upon her unsuspecting prey. Just like the male black widow spider is lured to mate with the female - not realizing that she will destroy and consume him when the act is done - so the fool strolls into the den of the whore not fully seeing that this is not a pleasure den, but a robber's lure. Still, he comes, thinking that this is all about pleasure, when he is about to experience the trigger of the trap that will enslave him. He is about to have stolen from him all that he will truly treasure.

This robber is waiting to add to her own lair of prey. She desires to increase the "faithless among men." This faithlessness is called "treachery" in the Old Testament. There is a word we don't seem to use as much any longer. This word means to act as a traitor and to betray someone. Here it refers to those who are married and their treachery toward their wives and toward the Lord before Whom they entered into their marriage vows. How many marriages have been destroyed simply because a man did not remember his vows before God - instead choosing to listen to the lies of his own flesh and the tantalizing lies of a strange woman.

Oh, fathers, how we need to do two very valuable things in life. First, how we need to treasure our wives. We need first to SHOW the way to our sons by how we treat our wives and cling to them. You cannot have instruction without example - and in this situation how the world needs the example of godly fathers cherishing their wives in front of their children. Second, we need to have a generation of fathers who desperately want their son's hearts. We need to call to them to cherish the father-son relationship as a place where they can receive wisdom and instruction and warning. We need to love them and delight in them so that they continue to give their hearts to us. Then, when we have that marvelous gift of their hearts, we need to use that trust to teach them the things of the Lord - urging them to a lifestyle and to choices that will bless them for generations. Among these teachings is desperately needed a call to watch their own hearts - covet the strength of their own marriages - and to protect the purity of their marriage covenants before God.

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Proverb A DAy

Two Paths Diverged in Life - and Taking the Wise One Made All the Difference

Listen to Dad! Proverbs 13:1

Best Protection Against Adultery - Watch Your Heart! Proverbs 7:24-25

The Importance of Speaking to Your Child's Heart . . . Proverbs 3:1

Victory Wreaths of the Parental Kind . . . Proverbs 1:8-9

Desiring the Hearts of our Sons - Proverbs 23:26-28

Proverb a Day

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​Proverb A DAy

Two Paths Diverged in Life - and Taking the Wise One Made All the Difference

Listen to Dad! Proverbs 13:1

Best Protection Against Adultery - Watch Your Heart! Proverbs 7:24-25

The Importance of Speaking to Your Child's Heart . . . Proverbs 3:1

Victory Wreaths of the Parental Kind . . . Proverbs 1:8-9

Desiring the Hearts of our Sons - Proverbs 23:26-28

Proverb a Day

Archives

Proverb A DAy