Today during my Quiet Time I was reading the Proverb of the day (there are 31 Proverbs making this a perfect book to read every month!) and a couple verses really stuck out to me that never have before. Side note, I also especially liked verses 17-25 too, and feel like they piggy back onto the two verses I'm writing about (as to be expected since they are in same chapter), but I am going to concentrate on Proverbs 23:15-16 for this post. However, if you decide to go back and read this Proverb, use verses 15-16 as the lens in which you read the rest of it, especially verses 17-35. Here we go!
"My son, if your heart is wise, my heart will rejoice--indeed, I myself; Yes, my inmost being will rejoice when your lips speak right things." -Proverbs 23:15-16
I read these verses a little differently today. Being a mom now I am beginning to read Proverbs a little differently. It's a book of instruction from a father to a son, though it can be adapted for any parent and child. Today, really for the first time, I read these verses from the parent's perspective instead of the child's like I have all of my life.
Lately I have been catching myself telling Kaia, "Be wise" as I see her contemplating whether or not to do something wrong. When I caught myself saying it for the first time I thought to myself, Did I really just tell my one year old to "Be wise"? But when I thought about it, I thought it was a great thing to tell her and have continued to do so. You see, some day when she's older, I hope that when she is contemplating doing something wrong she will hear my mommy voice in her head, "Be wise."
Even though she doesn't understand my cautious words now, I think I get what the writer of this Proverb means when he says his heart/inmost being rejoices. My heart swells with happiness when Kaia does the right thing after I tell her to be wise. If this is how I feel now, I can't imagine what I will feel once she fully understands what my words mean.
It has been my prayer since high school when a substitute told me to pray for wisdom in wanting to be a missionary to a closed country, to pray for wisdom for myself. I hope that I do lead a wise life. And I pray it not only for myself, but for Kaia as well and have been doing this since before she was born. I pray that that God answers this prayer by giving her wisdom. The world needs more people who live in wisdom.
And you know what else, I think God also rejoices like a Father when we are wise. Let's not just see these verses as earthly relationships, but see it as making our Heavenly Father rejoice in our wisdom. Isn't that Whom we should be pleasing anyway? Life can be hard to navigate sometimes. We hear competing voices all around us, but when we look to God for our wisdom we can rest assure that He will have our best interest at heart.
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