Friday! Proverbs!

Chasten your son 

while there is hope, 

And do not set your heart on his destruction.

Proverbs 19:18 NKJV

Well this is a fun proverb!

What's going on that is so bad that the writer feels he is at risk of wishing his own child's death?

Is the son an adult?

Or a younger person on a downhill trajectory?

And what's with "chasten"?

It means to discipline, to instruct, to admonish. There's a lot of talking going on here, so this is not about some 2 year old having a tantrum!

I read this proverb as the father. The hero of the proverb.

But really I'm the son, who's selfishness is leading to my destruction, my death. 

And I need the instruction and the admonition of my Heavenly Father.

And more. 

I need the redemption that comes thru faith in Jesus.

Jesus who's birth we celebrate, who's death we need, and in who's resurrection we have hope.

The word for hope in this proverb literally means "cord".

Hope is the cord that joins us to God.

Jesus is that cord, not a rope that can fray or break, but our Living Hope

#cord

#hope

#livinghope

#holdon