"Correct thy son and he shall give thee rest; yea, he shall give delight unto thy soul."
Proverbs 29:17
Part 2
Yesterday:
“Correct thy son,”
Our children are sinners and in need of correction.
“And he shall give thee rest;” (a)
The desired result of all our parenting work…
Today:
“And he shall give thee rest;” (b)
Is this a promise? Does this verse teach us “Christian Determinism?” If we put in the right effort, isn’t the anticipated result guaranteed? Much correction = great kids! Right?
Spoiler alert: Please understand that the scriptures give us no guarantee that if we as parents do everything correctly (which we won’t), and if we push all the “right buttons,” that our child will inevitably “turn out right.” In raising children, there are at least four factors that are dynamic here.
1. Our faithful parental teaching and modeling to our child of Bible truth.
2. The Holy Spirit’s work through His Word in my child.
3. My child’s will, his decision of “yes, I will,” or “no, I won’t.”
4. God’s grace!
We parents have no control over three of these factors. We can govern our teaching and modeling for our child. We cannot control the Holy Spirit’s work in our child, but we can feed our child the Word so that the Holy Spirit has His tools to work with. We cannot make the decision to “do right” for our child, but we can pray effectually for them (James 5:16). At the end of the day, it’s all about God’s grace.
When these four things come together in the life of our child, the results are marvelous!
“Yea, he shall give delight unto thy soul.”
What is this “delight” that our child potentially may bring to us?
“…the word signifies dainty dishes – here, high spiritual enjoyment.”1
What a thought, we can actually enjoy our child!
“It is a pleasure to parents, which none know but those that are blessed with it, to see the happy fruit of the good education they have given their children, and to have a prospect of their well-doing for both worlds”2 (Henry).
Dear parents, you who are believers, please take heart as you love your child and are being intentional in their “correction.” Ask the Lord to overrule your mistakes with His grace. Strive to be wise and consistent in your teaching and modeling. And in this do all things “for the glory of God.”
1. Keil & Delitzsch, Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament, the electronic version in eSword. Emphasis mine.
2. Matthew Henry, Matthew Henry’s Commentary on the Whole Bible, the electronic version in eSword.