Pro 17:21 | KingComments | STEP | It is a sorrow for a father to sire a child who turns out to be a fool. He hoped for a son who would be an asset to the family and the faith, but he only finds disappointment when his son turns out to be a fool. A God-fearing father will not rejoice over his foolish son. The father “was seeking a godly offspring” ( ), but his son turns out to be of the devil. He raised his son “in the discipline and instruction of the Lord” ( ), that he might live to the glory of God, but he has rejected all his father’s teaching. The father will not rejoice over his son, but his foolishness will break his heart. No one knows what kind of child he is siring. That is why it is so important to pray before a child is conceived, that God will give a child who will live to His glorification. Yet God-fearing parents can have wicked children. It remains the choice that a child, once he or she is up for that, must make for himself or herself: for or against Christ. We cannot always blame parents for the choice children make, and parents cannot claim that their children will be God-fearing. Parents do have a responsibility to educate, to make every effort to ensure that the child learns the way of the Lord. Thereby they will show the child in their own live how to go that way. Whether the child then goes that way is the choice he will have to make for himself.

‏ Proverbs 17:21

The Sorrow of a Father

It is a sorrow for a father to sire a child who turns out to be a fool. He hoped for a son who would be an asset to the family and the faith, but he only finds disappointment when his son turns out to be a fool. A God-fearing father will not rejoice over his foolish son. The father “was seeking a godly offspring” (Mal 2:15), but his son turns out to be of the devil. He raised his son “in the discipline and instruction of the Lord” (Eph 6:4), that he might live to the glory of God, but he has rejected all his father’s teaching. The father will not rejoice over his son, but his foolishness will break his heart.

No one knows what kind of child he is siring. That is why it is so important to pray before a child is conceived, that God will give a child who will live to His glorification. Yet God-fearing parents can have wicked children. It remains the choice that a child, once he or she is up for that, must make for himself or herself: for or against Christ.

We cannot always blame parents for the choice children make, and parents cannot claim that their children will be God-fearing. Parents do have a responsibility to educate, to make every effort to ensure that the child learns the way of the Lord. Thereby they will show the child in their own live how to go that way. Whether the child then goes that way is the choice he will have to make for himself.