Posted on 08/22/2022 11:21:44 PM PDT by Pilgrim's Progress
“My son, if thine heart be wise, my heart shall rejoice, even mine. Yea, my reins shall rejoice, when thy lips speak right things” (Proverbs 23:15-16).
In Proverbs, a wise heart is a heart that is open to instruction. In this case, it is a father’s relationship to his son. If you have a son that listens to you, that is a real joy. They are still not perfect, and they don’t always do right, but if they will listen to you when you sit down to reason with them about their actions, that is a real joy.
“Give instruction to a wise man, and he will be yet wiser: teach a just man, and he will increase in learning” (Proverbs 9:9).
“A wise son maketh a glad father: but a foolish son is the heaviness of his mother” (Proverbs 10:1).
Where are the reins found in a man? In the heart: “I the LORD search the heart, I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings” (Jeremiah 17:10).
The thing that controls the father, his heart (the reins) rejoice the heart when he sees the same thing is true in his son. Who should control a good man? God! So, when I see that God is in control of my children, then, as a father, I rejoice. Where does joy come from? The Holy Ghost. It is a fruit of the Spirit.
When what is important to you is found in another person, and they profit from it, you have joy. If they profit from your discipline, or authority, or instruction; it makes your heart glad. Whatever it is that is in you that gave you the ability to do that rejoices. And it is the Lord really that does that.
The reins of a man are what controls him—it says go, or it says stop—it is the reins of the Lord that controls him.
“Yea, my reins shall rejoice, when thy lips speak right things.
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"Reins" here refers to the kidneys.
Same etymological root as renal.
In ancient times, kidneys were assumed to be the seat of our emotions, feelings, and affections. It was also commonly known that they produce urine.
Regards,
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