Proverbs 13:22 Commentary and Bible Study

As it is the Lord who gives us the gift of children, so it is the Lord who enables us to provide for our families, for it would be more of a curse than a blessing if our children were born only to suffer shortage and hardship, and became a spectacle that grieving parents had to endure in their old age. If the Lord loves a man he provides for that man, and does not lead him down a path that makes him wish he had never set out. The decision to marry and to have children is a momentous one, for it has eternal consequences. Naturally, parents care much about the welfare of their children, and this verse gives them the assurance that God will not fail to provide for them. They do not bring children into the world with no better hope for their prospects than the worldling has for his children, but, as they watch over them for good, they look to God to bless them. Does God work in families as well as in individuals? Yes, for he blesses a good man’s descendants, as Scripture teaches (Genesis 18:19; 22:17; 2 Samuel 7:12-16), nevertheless these promises are conditional (Deuteronomy 4:40; 12:25; Psalm 112:1-2). God’s overruling plan and providence determine what each one will be, nevertheless each one is judged for his own obedience or waywardness. But although the proverb is couched in earthly terms, we may also apply it to our children’s spiritual inheritance. What is more important to a believer than his child’s being in the kingdom of heaven? The inheritance of the world to come makes all earthly inheritance pale into insignificance. The proverb is also true of the fruit of evangelistic labour, for Paul who did not marry, could speak of the spiritual children given to him by the Lord (1 Corinthians 4:15; 1 Timothy 1:2; Titus 1:4; Philemon 1:10).To these he gave an inheritance which none can take away.