Proverbs 10

Solomon recorded these proverbs two thousand years before the coming of the Christ. His divinely inspired observations about the human condition are still true today. For instance, it is still true that godly fathers and mothers care deeply about the wisdom or folly of their sons.

Has anything changed in all the years since these words were written? Yes. The only Son of the Father has finally come, and He lived in the godliness of perfect wisdom. His righteousness has delivered us from death. Because of the astounding accomplishment of His perfect life, an entire world associated with Him will eat together and work joyfully and productively forever in the kingdom of heaven.

As we wait for His return, we are learning to trust this one perfect Son of God, even with the lives of our children and grandchildren. We can read these proverbs with joy if we will read them as the Father wrote them about His own son. We can read them with a godly expectation that will look beyond this current world of sin to the perfect fulfillment of the Kingdom of God.

Heaven is a place of godly living beyond the regrets and worries of broken relationships in a sin-sick world. It would not be a realm of perfect joy without the repair of strained relationships between one generation and the next that we experience here. In heaven we will live in full awareness that we are all sons of God through Jesus Christ, the perfect Son.

Have we mourned about the consequences of our laziness or the lack of diligence that we see in those we love? Have we felt the misery that comes from saying what we should not have said or hearing words that should not have been spoken? There is a better world in reserve for us even now in the heavens, a world where Jesus' love has covered all our offenses.

Here we face all kinds of necessary discipline and the consequences that come to us from ungodly living. But in heaven, God Himself will wipe away every tear. We will rejoice in the perfect protection of the bountiful riches and wisdom of the Lord.

Until that day comes when Christ returns or when we go to be with Him, we have the precious gift of the Word of God. We and our children would do well to take it to heart and to receive the discipline of the Lord as good sons.

As we feel the sorrows of life in a world under God's curse, we can find joy only when we remember the hope of the righteous. It is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. It is well with my soul.