A Good Name
“A good name is more desirable than great riches; favor is better than silver and gold. The rich and the poor have this in common: the LORD is Maker of them all. The prudent see danger and take cover, but the simple keep going and suffer the consequences. The rewards of humility and the fear of the LORD are wealth and honor and life. Thorns and snares lie on the path of the perverse; he who guards his soul stays far from them. Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it.
The rich rule over the poor, and the borrower is slave to the lender. He who sows injustice will reap disaster, and the rod of his fury will be destroyed. A generous man will be blessed, for he shares his food with the poor. (Some sources include “God loves a cheerful giver…”)
Drive out the mocker, and conflict will depart; even quarreling and insults will cease. He who loves a pure heart and gracious lips will have the king for a friend. The LORD’s eyes keep watch over knowledge, but He frustrates the words of the faithless.
The slacker says, “There is a lion outside! I will be slain in the streets!” The mouth of an adulteress is a deep pit; he who is cursed by the LORD will fall into it. Foolishness is bound up in the heart of a child, but the rod of discipline drives it far from him.
Oppressing the poor to enrich oneself or giving gifts to the rich will surely lead to poverty.
“ A good name is more desirable than great riches; favor is better than silver and gold. The rich and the poor have this in common: the LORD is Maker of them all. The prudent see danger and take cover, but the simple keep going and suffer the consequences. The rewards of humility and the fear of the LORD are wealth and honor and life. Thorns and snares lie on the path of the perverse; he who guards his soul stays far from them. Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it.”
Today is all about character-how to train yourself and how to train your children. One pastor friend who runs a large Christian school has verse 6 as his motto: “Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it.” But how can we train our kids if we don’t model the character traits we want them to have? “Do as I say and not as I do” is no grounds for effective parenting. To maintain a good name, we must be prudent and humble while closely observing for moral traps so that we and our kids do not fall prey. Entire books have been written from this one verse alone.
Sometimes we don’t realize that others are also observing our parenting and copying us. One cousin who lost his father at an early age looked to my dad as an example of good fatherhood. A mom posted on Facebook that she accidentally stepped on her son’s Lego creation that he had worked over for days. But her son forgave her-why? Because the day before, he had accidentally broken one of her favorite plates, and she told him not to worry about it. That boy learned to forgive swiftly because his mom modeled it for him.
“The rich rule over the poor, and the borrower is slave to the lender.” High interest rates might be very high, demonstrating the truth of this saying. Check your credit card bill and you will agree whole-heartedly!
“He who sows injustice will reap disaster, and the rod of his fury will be destroyed. A generous man will be blessed, for he shares his food with the poor. (Some sources include “God loves a cheerful giver…”)” One of the fundamental laws of the Kingdom of God is that the measure you give out is the measure you will receive. Sow injustice and sooner or later, you will reap disaster and God will destroy the means by which you have been oppressing others. By the same token, when you reach out to the poor and help them, God will also help you. We are supported almost entirely by donations; yet, God is sustaining us. We channel funds through our hospital chaplain to help with patient medical bills and feeding. Due to the poverty of our patients, in the last year we have had to greatly increase our giving, realizing that if patients are forced to settle some of these bills, there will be no money for them to live on when they return home. Sometimes our chaplain must distribute money just so caregivers can feed themselves in the hospital.
“Drive out the mocker, and conflict will depart; even quarreling and insults will cease. He who loves a pure heart and gracious lips will have the king for a friend. The LORD’s eyes keep watch over knowledge, but He frustrates the words of the faithless.” Few things are more deadly to any organization than mockers and gossips, particularly if they are attempting to fragment the organization for their own interests along political, tribal, or family lines.
“The slacker says, “There is a lion outside! I will be slain in the streets!” The mouth of an adulteress is a deep pit; he who is cursed by the LORD will fall into it. Foolishness is bound up in the heart of a child, but the rod of discipline drives it far from him.” If you are lazy enough, any excuse to avoid work will be sufficient. Even in ancient Israel, it is highly unlikely that lions were stalking the streets of the cities! As for the wiles of an adulteress, Proverbs 7 has already given an incisive description of an accomplished adulteress. But being “cursed by the Lord” is an escapable fate; you can bring this on yourself by your own choices.
“Foolishness is bound up in the heart of a child, but the rod of discipline drives it far from him.” Discipline is a vital part of sound child-rearing. Whether or not you believe in physical discipline such as spanking, you must develop means of consistent discipline and apply it early and promptly. Children left to their own devices wind up as brats. Other verses in Proverbs tell us that only those who hate their children or even want them to die refuse to discipline them. A British pediatrician of the nineteenth century observed that obedient children were far more likely to live to adulthood than those who were disobedient. When a widowed mother asked General Robert E. Lee, now the President of Washington and Lee University, for advice on rearing her son, General Lee advised her, “Teach him to deny himself.” Many people fail to realize that General Lee was the top student in his class at West Point and that he was also a dedicated Christian.
“Oppressing the poor to enrich oneself or giving gifts to the rich will surely lead to poverty.” God is the Guardian of the poor; however, He depends on us to be His hands and feet. Throughout the Bible, God urges us to care for the poor and to defend the poor. On the other hand, giving gifts to the wealthy is an exercise in futility. If someone already has everything he/she needs, what can you possibly give that they don’t already have? Many wealthy people have no idea how much those who are poorer struggle and may scorn any gift. Truly, you will waste your gifts and become more impoverished.
APPLICATION: The main themes of these verses are the need for discipline, both self-discipline as well as proper training of children, and the importance of integrity. Both are crucially important and both are also in short supply. But what if you are the victim of poor parenting? God has the answers, for God is the perfect Parent. Ask God to “teach you and guide you in the way you should go.” (Psalm 32:8) Ask God to help you to become like Him and not to copy mistakes your parents may have made. God will gladly answer such prayers!
PRAYER: Father God, thank You for loving us and for caring for us. Lord, many of us are burdened with the results of bad examples our parents have set for us. But You have promised to teach and guide us. Lord, help us to change so that we become like You and do not replicate the mistakes our parents have made. In the mighty and precious Name of King Jesus. Amen.
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