Proverbs 22:15 says, "Foolishness is bound up in the heart of a child, but the rod of discipline will drive it far from him." Think about that for a minute. What is the scripture saying? The scripture is telling us that children have foolishness tied up in their heart and the only way the foolish behavior can be rectified is by discipline. The End. Many parents have many excuses as to why they do not want to disciple their children with discipline. The consequence is a heart full of foolishness that will be the downfall of their character early in life.
Let's break down this scripture. Foolishness in the Strong's Concordance literally means, silliness or a fountain of foolish actions. When we look up what the word heart means, we find that it depicts the child's passions, their mind, will and emotions (soul), as well as their moral character. Wow, that is pretty heavy. What is the rod? The rod is defined at a stick or a mark of authority. The rod is like a wooded spoon, it is your parental authority. It is not your hand, or extension cord, a slipper, yelling, whining, or begging (that whole, "I'm going to count to three thing is foolish" etc. It is a piece of wood, a stick that wooded spoon in your kitchen. Lastly, to drive the foolishness away from the child means to get rid of something. Do you get the revelation? In other words there is silliness that is tied to your child's soul and discipline will get rid of the silly, childish behavior. Here is a story from my 21 year old daughter Hannah on something she remembers regarding her own silly behavior as a child. When I read this story I laughed until my stomach hurt. LOL!
"The other day I asked my mom if she remembered a particular time when Isaiah and I were 3 and 5 years old. We were sitting at the table eating lunch. My mom bent down to do something and I remember looking at Isaiah, looking back at my mom and laughing. Isaiah and I thought it was hilarious that my mom bent over to pick something up. My mom stood up and asked what was funny and we just shook our heads and began eating again. She bent back over to finish what she had started and we began laughing again. This time my mom said, “Tell me why you are laughing.” We said, “Your bottom (because we weren’t aloud to say butt!) is sticking out”. My mom asked why that was funny and we honestly didn’t have an answer. I remember my mom saying, “We do not laugh at people because that is foolish.” She went on to explain that it was okay to have fun but it’s not ok to laugh at a persons bottom because it was foolish. She then said that she was going to bend back over and if we laughed again there was going to be a consequence. That was during a time when a lot of child training was going on so we definitely didn’t want any consequences so we didn’t laugh!" As a young adult I honestly understand the lesson but I have to say that even as a young adult that my mom is strange. She managed to take the small things that we did as children and create a big life lesson and now we are writing about it."
Dear person reading this blog, if you ignore the smallest display of foolish behavior in your child's character, then your child may eventually become a foolish teen and a foolish adult, wife, mother, husband or dad. Yes, it is that serious. There is a big difference behind laughing to have fun and laughter fueled by foolishness. Train them up so that when they reach those adolescent years, they will not be silly humans with poor character.
Shalom Aleichem