{"id":4638,"date":"2024-08-04T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-08-04T05:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/handstotheplow.org\/reading-plan\/august-4\/"},"modified":"2025-08-16T08:26:50","modified_gmt":"2025-08-16T13:26:50","slug":"august-4","status":"publish","type":"reading-plan","link":"https:\/\/handstotheplow.org\/om\/reading-plan\/august-4\/","title":{"rendered":"August 4"},"content":{"rendered":"

Insight from Proverbs 22:<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe consequence statement in <\/span>Proverbs 22:6<\/span><\/a> implies that the parents\u2019 intentional moral and religious shaping early on will have a permanent effect on their child for good. This statement is not a hard-and-fast promise to parents, however, for the rest of the book makes clear that the power of the youth\u2019s future depends not only on the parents\u2019 guidance but also very much on the choices he or she makes. The immediately preceding verse implies that the youth must guard his soul from those who are crooked (<\/span>Proverbs 22:5<\/span><\/a>). He could choose to follow the wicked unto death (<\/span>Proverbs 2:12\u201319<\/span><\/a>), or he could heed the wisdom of his parents and choose the good paths of the righteous unto life (<\/span>Proverbs 22:1\u201311<\/span><\/a>, <\/span>20<\/span><\/a>).<\/span><\/p>\n

While <\/span>Proverbs 22:6<\/span><\/a> is framed as instruction to parents, the book as a whole gives guidance to the young (<\/span>Proverbs 1:4<\/span><\/a>), which suggests the proverb actually intends to call straying youth back toward the right way. If you are a son or daughter who had parents that worked hard to set positive moral and religious trajectories for your life (though imperfectly), you must not counter this trajectory by foolish decisions today.<\/span><\/p>\n

Proverbs 22:6<\/span><\/a> sets out a principle that time will prove true unless God intervenes for good or ill. As a parent, I rejoice in the directions given me in God\u2019s word \u2014 the Lord calls me and my wife to actively and intentionally dedicate our six kids to represent, reflect, and resemble the glory of God in the face of Christ.<\/span><\/p>\n

Yet <\/span>Proverbs 22:6<\/span><\/a> also reminds me how much I and my children fail, so I also rejoice in the power of the gospel to curb my own faults and the hardest of my children\u2019s hearts. God in Christ makes those dead in sin alive (<\/span>Ephesians 2:4\u20135<\/span><\/a>), forgives all who confess (<\/span>1 John 1:9<\/span><\/a>), and overcomes the old creation with new (<\/span>2 Corinthians 5:17<\/span><\/a>).\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"give_campaign_id":0,"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_crdt_document":""},"class_list":["post-4638","reading-plan","type-reading-plan","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/handstotheplow.org\/om\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/reading-plan\/4638","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/handstotheplow.org\/om\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/reading-plan"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/handstotheplow.org\/om\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/reading-plan"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/handstotheplow.org\/om\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4638"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}