A wise son makes a Father glad {Proverbs chapter 10 verse 1}
There are few feelings as good as when a son does something that makes his father proud of him. I was reading this text today and although it was written about human fathers my focus went to our heavenly Father. Have you ever thought about the fact that you can make God happy? There are things you can do that make him rejoice. It's an interesting thought. Lets lay a foundation first and you'll see where I'm coming from.
Way back in the beginning when God first made man something special happened. We read in the creation account in Genesis that God looked at his creation in various stages of progress and declared it to be good. This word 'good' means far more than it does in English. To God, good is measured by the ultimate standard by which all things will be measured and that is God himself. All things are designed to reflect him. That is the highest purpose for all things. As the scripture says 'All things were created for God's pleasure and glory'. Creation reflects God's creative power, his beauty, his fruitfulness, his intelligence, his creativity, his majesty and grandeur and much more. In fact we read in the book of Romans that 'the invisible things of God are clearly seen through the things that were created, even His godhead and majesty.' This is what it means to be good but there is more.
GOD CREATED YOU!
God said something of man that he said of nothing else. He said 'let us make man in our own image.' When he had done this he then declared that his creation was VERY GOOD. There is something very and uniquely special about a human being. We have the capacity to reflect God as nothing else in creation can. We have the capacity to reflect God's moral nature.
Now let me take you to another scripture you may not be aware is intimately connected. It is in the gospels and describes the baptism of Jesus. The gospel writers tell us that the Holy Spirit was seen in a physical form coming down to rest upon Jesus and a voice from heaven was heard declaring, THIS IS MY BELOVED SON IN WHOM I AM WELL PLEASED. Don't miss the significance of such a dramatic statement. The terms 'very good' and 'very pleased' are INTIMATELY CONNECTED! The scriptures tell us that all things were made for God's good {that is virtuous and moral} pleasure. As God is perfect in every way he takes pleasure in that which reflects him.
When God made Adam {The first man} God said it was very good. We know that since then {being a creature of free will} man has mostly done the exact opposite of what God created him for. Most men don't live to reflect God's moral character but live to feed their own lusts, chase their own desires and puff themselves up in their own ways and worldly thinking but here is the thing. Jesus was described as THE SECOND ADAM by the apostle Paul. Jesus succeeded where the first Adam failed. Both Jesus and Adam came into this world without a human father and without being born with an inherited sinful nature. In Jesus case, however, his heavenly Father could say I AM VERY PLEASED WITH YOU. Here are some key things for all of us to remember.
# God made you to reflect Him in a way nothing else in creation can.
# God made you to reflect his moral character.
# God takes pleasure in you when you do this and it makes your Father happy.
So HOW do we do this? If God's great desire for us is that we will make Him a happy Father how can we achieve this? We find the answer in Proverbs.
A WISE SON MAKES A GLAD FATHER.
The answer is wisdom! Wisdom is the key! Wisdom is the principle thing therefore get wisdom!
Now I want to give you a few very important key points to help you in this by way of a foundation.
#1 - WISDOM IS NOT INTELLECTUAL KNOWLEDGE. IT IS MORAL KNOWLEDGE.
We must remember that the bible was not written by 20th century western scholars but by Jewish prophets and men of God thousands of years ago. This helps us deal with a fundamental communication problem. We think wisdom is stuff you know as if intellect was the key. Do you think you please God by having a higher I.Q then the next man? All the way through Proverbs you will see two words. WISE and FOOLISH. Again and again they are identified by MORAL traits. Not intellectual ones. Wisdom, for old testament Jews was not intellectual but moral.
#2 - MORAL KNOWLEDGE IS NOT INFORMATION BUT EXPERIENCE.
To understand what the bible authors meant we must look at how they wrote. What did THEY mean by KNOWING something? We find this right in the beginning in Genesis. 'and Adam KNEW his wife Eve and she conceived'. In Hebrew, to KNOW means to experience. When the bible says that Adam knew his wife it does not mean that he had read a book about her, become aquainted with her or researched her background. It means he had an experience with her.
In the bible moral knowledge is NOT having the information in your head but EXPERIENCING the truth in your life.
Think about it. If I was aware of a new wonder drug that could cure cancer would the knowledge or the experience of it heal me? Of course the experience of it! Jesus said 'and you shall KNOW the truth and the truth shall make you FREE!. How on earth can theological knowledge set you free from sin? It's ridiculous. Satan knows the bible better than any of us. He used and questioned the word of God to entrap Eve in the garden in the beginning and he repeatedly tried to twist the scripture to tempt Jesus in the wilderness. If head knowledge saves then Satan would still be in heaven. I recall a pastor who told us how he would tell things to his disciples who would respond by saying 'I know'. The pastor would respond, 'You don't know. That's why I am telling you'. You only really know the truth when you believe it and you only really believe it when you live it. We need to experience the wisdom of God. It's when we experience it that we reflect God's moral character. In Hebrew, the same word is used to define something you know intellectually and something you experience. To claim to know what is right and not do it is almost a contradiction in terms.
#3 - LIKE FATHER, LIKE SON.
This is an old saying we have in England. Because a child lives with the parents and sees them every day they pick up on the habits and behaviour of the parents. It has been noted that some parents have told their kids 'do as I tell you and not as I do' An alcoholic parent will tell their child to be a good boy and not get drunk but the child will so often follow in the footsteps of the father. We know our heavenly Father is perfectly consistent with his word. His word flows out of the perfect moral character he is. There are dozens of titles used to describe God in the old testament and so many of them come as a revelation of God during a time when someone EXPERIENCED what he did. We will become more like Him when we spend quality time with him, when we have an EXPERIENCE OF HIM, when we see what God does.
So many settle for what they are taught in Sunday school but God is more than an academic subject. He has a personality. He wants to be in fellowship with us. He wants us to experience things with him. That is the place where we are transformed. That is the place where we become more like him where we actually encounter him.
There is much more to say but I will conclude with this. The book of Proverbs contains so much practical wisdom that is not for storage in the head but for living and experiencing in life.
Proverbs comes alive when it comes alive in you.
Proverbs acts in a transforming way when it transforms the way you act. Proverbs is the route to the pleasure of God. It is the place of anointing as the Holy Spirit always anoints that which belongs to him. Proverbs is the place of God's wisdom, God's moral character expressed and lived out in the real world. It is where you find out what a true man and woman of God looks like. We know when we have GOT WISDOM when WISDOM GETS US. That's the place God ordained and purposed for you from the beginning.
My friends, God's love for you is never in question. A parent always loves their children but children can bring joy to a parent or bring grief and heaviness. Wisdom is a choice. It is a choice to bring joy to the heart of the Father who loves you and has a wonderful purpose for your life. God's purpose for you is an experience of Him, of His character, of His wisdom and of His joy. What a wonderful thing it is to receive blessings from the Father in heaven. What a wonderful thing it is also that we can also bless God and bring joy and gladness to his heart. May God rejoice in you today as you embrace His wisdom for your life.
Shalom...Steve
