For the month of October, we are answering the challenge John Goldwater, pastor of Christ Community Church in Grenada, MS, laid out — the #DailyWisdomChallenge. Each day, we are going to read through a chapter of Proverbs corresponding to the day of the month.
This fits with what we have studied in Colossians, specifically Colossians 3:1-2, namely that we should seek “the things that are above, where Christ is” and set our minds like a thermostat “on things that are above, not on things that are on earth”. Imagine what a month meditating on God’s Word daily can do for us.
Won’t you join us on this #DailyWisdomChallenge and set your minds on Christ?
I love this proverb because it shows hope in a couple of ways that I think we really need to see in this day and age.
First, there is hope to be found in Jesus that is greater than any darkness or depression or depravity. Hope in Jesus is not hypothetical hope, but it is instead fixed and sure, resting on the foundation of what Jesus has done, is doing, and will surely do. His victory transcends everything that remains unknown because He has already “overcome the world” (John 16:33).
In the context of Proverbs 19:18, there is obvious reference to trouble. Why else would there be need to discipline one’s son? Whatever trouble is pointed to here, it must be bad or represents the sum total of the bad a kid can get into because God in His wisdom advises the parent not “set [their] heart on putting him to death”. Kids, just like their parents, get sideways in sin sometimes. All of them, just like all parents, do. But when you are in the midst of having to discipline this child that you have raised and tried to point in the right direction, some trouble seems like it leaves no room for hope.
The Jesus-hope this proverb’s God-wisdom points to is pictured well in Romans 5:1-5:
“Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through Him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.”
This sort of hope – hope only found by those who have been “justified by faith”, those who have received “peace” from God stemming from standing in His grace – works differently than worldly hope. Wordly hope is hypothetical and fails when suffering hits. Jesus-hope starts with suffering and grows as God’s Spirit gives endurance. That endurance produces fruit of the Spirit that defines one’s character. And once God has worked Himself into and out through your character, hope is a way of life. It is a byproduct of the eternal life He gives those who believe in Him.
The second hope is one that many do not agree with: as long as a child lives, I believe there is hope. Are there troubles and sins and crimes that have longlasting consequences? Absolutely. Are there things that can happen and be committed that can forever alter the life of a child? Yes. But the hope shown above is for sinners. It is hope for the ones who messed up. It is hope for those whose works earn death. It is hope for children like me – and children like you.
I find myself having to remind myself of this often as I work with students.
I find myself having to remind myself of this often as I parent my kiddos.
I find myself having to remind myself of this often because of my parent’s oldest kid (and to a lesser degree my inlaws youngest).
So, if you find yourself in the rough times of parenting and you wonder whether its worth keeping on keeping on with your kiddo, it is. God tells us here in His wisdom that there is hope in bearing with them in discipline. Things may look hopeless from your vantage point, but from the throne of the King of kings, He sees what we can’t. He sees and tells us to hope. And as He told us in Romans, hope will not put us to shame.
Just Keith Harris 