Posted on 03/29/2020 6:17:50 AM PDT by Pilgrim's Progress
“The rod and reproof give wisdom: but a child left to himself bringeth his mother to shame . . . Correct thy son, and he shall give thee rest; yea, he shall give delight unto thy soul” (Proverbs 29:15, 17).
Verses 15 and 17 deal with child rearing, and rearing is a good word. In 15, “The rod and reproof give wisdom,” a guy thinks all he had to do was to send his kid to school that's where he’ll get wisdom. Yea, but it’ll be a worldly wisdom that you will need to correct. You'll get a whole lot more of the right kind of wisdom on the end of a hickory stick.
“The rod and reproof,” the rod gets their attention. I mean, it's amazing how rebellion is quelled after the rod has been administered. The Bible says that “it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness.” “Yes, daddy. Anything you say,” and then reproof. After you've driven the folly out of them, “foolishness is bound up in the heart of child, but the rod of correction shall drive it far from them.” After you've driven the folly out of their heart and head, then you can talk to him.
Some people say, “Well, I don’t believe in spanking my child. I'll just talk to him.” You just go right ahead and have yourself a time. Just go ahead and try, try, try to reason with that little sinner. You're out of your mind. You're not going to reason with that kid. The only reason he will do what you want is just to get you off his back. He'll do you like a lot of people do when it comes to conversions. They will say yes and pray any prayer you want if you’ll just back off. It doesn’t do a thing for them. Kids aren’t dumb.
“. . . but a child left himself bringeth his mother to shame,” the mother spends more time with him so obviously she's going to bear the greater reproach. The mother generally has a greater love for the child than the man does, so it's going to be more shameful, almost seeming like a betrayal. A man is so proud, if the child goes bad, he will blame it on circumstances, or the wife, or he will blame it on something else. He won't blame himself. Usually the woman winds up bearing the shame and the reproach when a child goes bad.
Verse 17, “Correct thy son, and he shall give the rest,” that’s the way to have peace in raising children, you just have to spend time correcting them, “yea, he shall give delight unto thy soul,” not only physical delights and peace, but spiritual a reward. What would happen to us if God’s Holy Spirit never reproved us?
“And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment” (John 16:8).
We would go to hell. If we did not get reproved, we would die and go to hell. If a child does not get reproved, he will destroy himself.
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