“Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it.”
(Proverbs 22:6)
Ever since becoming a mom 48 years ago, Proverbs 22:6 (quoted above) has been a source of pondering for me. Just as with all Scripture, the more you meditate on it, the more you understand from it. Jason DeRouchie, Professor, Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary wrote a wonderful blog on this verse that is worth considering. The following excerpt from that blog hopefully gives all of us further understanding of this well-known verse. As you read this quote, think about how a similar training and discipline comes to us from our heavenly Father.
“The consequence statement in Proverbs 22:6 implies that the parents’ intentional moral and religious shaping early on will have a permanent effect on their child for good. This statement is not a hard-and-fast promise to parents, however, for the rest of the book makes clear that the power of the youth’s future depends not only on the parents’ guidance but also very much on the choices he or she makes. The immediately preceding verse implies that the youth must guard his soul from those who are crooked (Proverbs 22:5). He could choose to follow the wicked unto death (Proverbs 2:12–19), or he could heed the wisdom of his parents and choose the good paths of the righteous unto life (Proverbs 22:1–11, 20).
While Proverbs 22:6 is framed as instruction to parents, the book as a whole gives guidance to the young (Proverbs 1:4), which suggests the proverb actually intends to call straying youth back toward the right way. If you are a son or daughter who had parents that worked hard to set positive moral and religious trajectories for your life (though imperfectly), you must not counter this trajectory by foolish decisions today.
Proverbs 22:6 sets out a principle that time will prove true unless God intervenes for good or ill. As a parent, I rejoice in the directions given me in God’s word — the Lord calls me and my wife to actively and intentionally dedicate our six kids to represent, reflect, and resemble the glory of God in the face of Christ.
Yet Proverbs 22:6 also reminds me how much I and my children fail, so I also rejoice in the power of the gospel to curb my own faults and the hardest of my children’s hearts. God in Christ makes those dead in sin alive (Ephesians 2:4–5), forgives all who confess (1 John 1:9), and overcomes the old creation with new (2 Corinthians 5:17).”
Be prepared to discuss pages 128-135 in our study books for this coming Thursday morning. If you don’t have a copy of the book, come anyway; I have a free one for you. Bring your little ones along—Anne and Liesl will be waiting for them.