Proverbs 15:5: A fool despises his father’s instruction, but he who receives correction is prudent.
Insight
The young man is very apt to consider his knowledge superior to that of his father, forgetting that you cannot leap over many years’ experience. It is the part of folly not to learn from one who has been over the path before you. To regard reproof and thankfully accept correction is an evidence of true wisdom. 1
Application
The account of the father and his prodigal son is found in Luke 15:11–15. “Then He said: “A certain man had two sons. And the younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the portion of goods that falls to me.’ So he divided to them his livelihood. And not many days after, the younger son gathered all together, journeyed to a far country, and there wasted his possessions with prodigal living. But when he had spent all, there arose a severe famine in that land, and he began to be in want. Then he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country, and he sent him into his fields to feed swine.”
What can a father and mother say to keep their child from prodigal living? What can you do when your godly council is rejected? How well do you handle correction or change in plans?
Motivation
These people draw near to Me with their mouth, And honor Me with their lips, But their heart is far from Me. Matthew 15:8
To forsake the words of an older godly believer is to forfeit the wisdom that could prosper your life and livelihood. – TWEET IT
Prayer
Father, teach me to seek the guiding words from a seasoned believer.
1. Ironside, H. A. (1908). Notes on the Book of Proverbs. Neptune, NJ: Loizeaux Bros.
