Posted on 10/18/2022 7:27:21 PM PDT by Pilgrim's Progress
“A foolish son is the calamity of his father: and the contentions of a wife are a continual dropping. House and riches are the inheritance of fathers: and a prudent wife is from the LORD” (Proverbs 19:13).
“A foolish son is the calamity of his father,” how would you feel if you sunk a fortune into a thing and it turned out to be a dud? That is a calamity. A waste of time, a waste of money, and a waste of effort. One can put a lot of work into the rearing of a child, and yet that child turns out to a fool. I wish it were possible to say, “Do this and do this, and every one of your children will turn out to be perfect.” Sadly, it just isn’t going to happen.
You can be just as good with them as you can, just as kind, just as compassionate as one can be, and use proper correction in their formative years, and still end up with one the will rebel and shame you.
It isn’t something that can be easily understand, although generally when you raise them right they will turn out right, but at the same time each of us has a free will and will ultimately do what we personally want to do—whether to rebel or to obey the Lord. It is a great misfortune and a calamity to have a child turn out to be a fool.
“. . . and the contentions to wonder at the connection.
“House and riches are the inheritance of fathers,” these are the things that a child normally inherits as part of their parents’ estate.
“. . . and a prudent wife is from the LORD,” this points back to 18:22 where a good wife is the favor of the Lord. Saved or lost, if you have a good wife she is of the Lord, because a good wife is very hard to find. We recall that in the garden, God brought to Adam his wife, whom he named Eve, “the mother of all living.” God is still in the business of bringing two people together, but too often young people are impatient to marry the first person that comes along. They confuse “love” with “lust,” and when beauty alone is the basis of marriage, it doesn’t last long. Proverbs 31:10 reminds us that “a good wife is hard to find.”
It is not surprising that when a good wife is given, it is usually to people that are in the will of God, seeking the will of God for their lives. Or, based upon the foreknowledge of God, a lost man will find a good wife with God knowing that he will become a Christian. At any rate, she is a gift, a favor. None certainly deserve it, but God is often very gracious. Again, it is necessary to understand that a “good wife” does not always denote a stunning knock-out beauty (as the world would have it), because often beauty is an attribute of godliness.
This is just the immense grace and favor of God. If a boy does right by his parents, he’ll inherit riches and a house; if a man does right by God, He will give him a good wife—that is what this verse is essentially saying. Do right by mom and dad and you’ll probably do all right in the end.
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I pray that my wife would be prudent. She is not. My curse is that i have enabled her and our daughter to be the most liberal of Covid Karens that are still women.
I have Grace and Redemption. The new farm fence is built and finished. I am ready.
Trusting that God will touch and heal your family situation . . . God is able to do miracles!
“Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us . . . by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen” (Ephesians 3:20-21).
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Thank you.
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