Proverbs 29:15 Commentary and Bible Study

The bringing up of a child is a project, a long term enterprise which calls for much wisdom. No one should attempt a task of such great magnitude and having such great consequences, unless they have some understanding of the difficulties they will face. Even a man who rides a horse needs to know something of the character of the animal he sits upon. Is it skittish, or timid, or prone to be lazy? Is it highly strung so that it needs calming, is it liable to take fright easily? But in dealing with a human child we are dealing with something vastly more significant, vastly more precious, and we are working on a project with eternal consequences. How then can we fail to take account of what that child is? How can we ignore what God says is true of every child: that every one of us that comes into the world with a fallen nature? What will happen if that nature is left unchecked and free to develop in a direction of its own choice? It will certainly take shape in a way that is displeasing to the Lord. Sinful habits will become deep seated patterns, and the trunk of the soul will thicken and become fixed and unbendable in a way that is not good. Even an unconverted child may be taught many things that will protect it in later life and teach lessons about self-control and resisting indulgence that God may use. Is fallen nature such a weak force within us that it can be left to develop any way it wants? Who has not looked on a garden which has been left abandoned without care and cultivation? To put it right later requires massive violent intervention. How does that compare with another garden that has been weeded daily and by a much gentler process prevented from ever getting near that state of riotous growth? The child left to his own may be affectionate at times and certainly the process of bringing up the child will be less onerous in the short term, but what is produced at the end is not a child that is teachable, reverent towards the righteous, capable of appreciating other people’s needs. The weeds of self-centredness, stubbornness, self-indulgence, and even cruelty will have become too well established. God’s means of preventing this are that there is a regime of discipline in the home that sets a clear standard. When the line is crossed, the child knows that discipline will follow, and that knowledge teaches the child the best type of restraint: self-restraint. The child will learn wisdom, at the very least, in the sense that they learn to associate foolishness with punishment. The conscience will become active. But more than this, God also works in the hearts of children. He approves and uses parental instruction as an influence for good on the next generation and he will work in many children’s lives to bring them to the knowledge of Christ in part through the wise upbringing of Christian parents.