A Happy Answer

Monday, August 26, 2013

by Dr. Paul Chappell

"My son, be wise, and make my heart glad, that I may answer him that reproacheth me."

Proverbs 27:11

Although he came from a powerful and wealthy family, William Penn was greatly persecuted in England because he was a Quaker. After being acquitted in a criminal trial that hinged on his refusal to be part of the Church of England, Penn received permission to go to America and found a new colony—Pennsylvania. Unlike most of the other colonies, Pennsylvania offered a great deal of religious freedom. Penn not only helped shape the new nation of America, but he left behind a great deal of wise advice as well.

His work Some Fruits of Solitude in Reflections and Maxims was popular in colonial America. In it, Penn wrote this about the importance of spending the time to train young people to do right rather than relying on money to make up for parental shortcomings. “Men are generally more careful of the Breed of their Horses and Dogs than of their Children. Those must be of the best Sort, for Shape, Strength, Courage and good Conditions: But as for these, their own Posterity, Money shall answer all Things. With such, it makes the Crooked Straight, sets Squint-Eyes Right, cures Madness, covers Folly, changes ill Conditions, mends the Skin, gives a sweet Breath, repairs Honor, makes Young, works Wonders.”

It is a double tragedy when parents fail to teach and train their children. It is a tragedy for the children because they miss “the nurture and admonition of the Lord” (Ephesians 6:4) that every child needs to be equipped for life. But such careless parents also rob themselves of the joy of seeing children develop into men or women of God. Many parents mourn missed opportunities in their later years when it is too late to go back and shape the child’s life.

Today's Growth Principle
The time you spend investing in teaching your children wisdom will pay dividends throughout their lives.

Old Testament Reading

Psalm 120-122

PSALM 120

A Song of degrees.

¹ In my distress I cried unto the LORD, and he heard me. ² Deliver my soul, O LORD, from lying lips, and from a deceitful tongue. ³ What shall be given unto thee? or what shall be done unto thee, thou false tongue? ⁴ Sharp arrows of the mighty, with coals of juniper.

⁵ Woe is me, that I sojourn in Mesech, that I dwell in the tents of Kedar! ⁶ My soul hath long dwelt with him that hateth peace. ⁷ I am for peace: but when I speak, they are for war.

PSALM 121

A Song of degrees.

¹ I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help. ² My help cometh from the LORD, which made heaven and earth. ³ He will not suffer thy foot to be moved: he that keepeth thee will not slumber. ⁴ Behold, he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep. ⁵ The LORD is thy keeper: the LORD is thy shade upon thy right hand. ⁶ The sun shall not smite thee by day, nor the moon by night. ⁷ The LORD shall preserve thee from all evil: he shall preserve thy soul. ⁸ The LORD shall preserve thy going out and thy coming in from this time forth, and even for evermore.

PSALM 122

A Song of degrees of David.

¹ I was glad when they said unto me, Let us go into the house of the LORD. ² Our feet shall stand within thy gates, O Jerusalem. ³ Jerusalem is builded as a city that is compact together: ⁴ Whither the tribes go up, the tribes of the LORD, unto the testimony of Israel, to give thanks unto the name of the LORD. ⁵ For there are set thrones of judgment, the thrones of the house of David.

⁶ Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: they shall prosper that love thee. ⁷ Peace be within thy walls, and prosperity within thy palaces. ⁸ For my brethren and companions' sakes, I will now say, Peace be within thee. ⁹ Because of the house of the LORD our God I will seek thy good.

New Testament Reading

1 Corinthians 9

CHAPTER 9

¹ Am I not an apostle? am I not free? have I not seen Jesus Christ our Lord? are not ye my work in the Lord? ² If I be not an apostle unto others, yet doubtless I am to you: for the seal of mine apostleship are ye in the Lord.

³ Mine answer to them that do examine me is this, ⁴ Have we not power to eat and to drink? ⁵ Have we not power to lead about a sister, a wife, as well as other apostles, and as the brethren of the Lord, and Cephas? ⁶ Or I only and Barnabas, have not we power to forbear working? ⁷ Who goeth a warfare any time at his own charges? who planteth a vineyard, and eateth not of the fruit thereof? or who feedeth a flock, and eateth not of the milk of the flock? ⁸ Say I these things as a man? or saith not the law the same also? ⁹ For it is written in the law of Moses, Thou shalt not muzzle the mouth of the ox that treadeth out the corn. Doth God take care for oxen? ¹⁰ Or saith he it altogether for our sakes? For our sakes, no doubt, this is written: that he that ploweth should plow in hope; and that he that thresheth in hope should be partaker of his hope. ¹¹ If we have sown unto you spiritual things, is it a great thing if we shall reap your carnal things? ¹² If others be partakers of this power over you, are not we rather? Nevertheless we have not used this power; but suffer all things, lest we should hinder the gospel of Christ. ¹³ Do ye not know that they which minister about holy things live of the things of the temple? and they which wait at the altar are partakers with the altar? ¹⁴ Even so hath the Lord ordained that they which preach the gospel should live of the gospel.

¹⁵ But I have used none of these things: neither have I written these things, that it should be so done unto me: for it were better for me to die, than that any man should make my glorying void. ¹⁶ For though I preach the gospel, I have nothing to glory of: for necessity is laid upon me; yea, woe is unto me, if I preach not the gospel! ¹⁷ For if I do this thing willingly, I have a reward: but if against my will, a dispensation of the gospel is committed unto me. ¹⁸ What is my reward then? Verily that, when I preach the gospel, I may make the gospel of Christ without charge, that I abuse not my power in the gospel.

¹⁹ For though I be free from all men, yet have I made myself servant unto all, that I might gain the more. ²⁰ And unto the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might gain the Jews; to them that are under the law, as under the law, that I might gain them that are under the law; ²¹ To them that are without law, as without law, (being not without law to God, but under the law to Christ,) that I might gain them that are without law. ²² To the weak became I as weak, that I might gain the weak: I am made all things to all men, that I might by all means save some. ²³ And this I do for the gospel's sake, that I might be partaker thereof with you.

²⁴ Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize? So run, that ye may obtain. ²⁵ And every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible. ²⁶ I therefore so run, not as uncertainly; so fight I, not as one that beateth the air: ²⁷ But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway.

Proverbs Reading

Proverbs 27

¹ Boast not thyself of to morrow; for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth. ² Let another man praise thee, and not thine own mouth; a stranger, and not thine own lips. ³ A stone is heavy, and the sand weighty; but a fool's wrath is heavier than them both. ⁴ Wrath is cruel, and anger is outrageous; but who is able to stand before envy? ⁵ Open rebuke is better than secret love. ⁶ Faithful are the wounds of a friend; but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful. ⁷ The full soul loatheth an honeycomb; but to the hungry soul every bitter thing is sweet. ⁸ As a bird that wandereth from her nest, so is a man that wandereth from his place. ⁹ Ointment and perfume rejoice the heart: so doth the sweetness of a man's friend by hearty counsel. ¹⁰ Thine own friend, and thy father's friend, forsake not; neither go into thy brother's house in the day of thy calamity: for better is a neighbour that is near than a brother far off. ¹¹ My son, be wise, and make my heart glad, that I may answer him that reproacheth me. ¹² A prudent man foreseeth the evil, and hideth himself; but the simple pass on, and are punished. ¹³ Take his garment that is surety for a stranger, and take a pledge of him for a strange woman. ¹⁴ He that blesseth his friend with a loud voice, rising early in the morning, it shall be counted a curse to him. ¹⁵ A continual dropping in a very rainy day and a contentious woman are alike. ¹⁶ Whosoever hideth her hideth the wind, and the ointment of his right hand, which bewrayeth itself. ¹⁷ Iron sharpeneth iron; so a man sharpeneth the countenance of his friend. ¹⁸ Whoso keepeth the fig tree shall eat the fruit thereof: so he that waiteth on his master shall be honoured. ¹⁹ As in water face answereth to face, so the heart of man to man. ²⁰ Hell and destruction are never full; so the eyes of man are never satisfied. ²¹ As the fining pot for silver, and the furnace for gold; so is a man to his praise. ²² Though thou shouldest bray a fool in a mortar among wheat with a pestle, yet will not his foolishness depart from him. ²³ Be thou diligent to know the state of thy flocks, and look well to thy herds. ²⁴ For riches are not for ever: and doth the crown endure to every generation? ²⁵ The hay appeareth, and the tender grass sheweth itself, and herbs of the mountains are gathered. ²⁶ The lambs are for thy clothing, and the goats are the price of the field. ²⁷ And thou shalt have goats' milk enough for thy food, for the food of thy household, and for the maintenance for thy maidens.