Proverbs - Listening and Understanding

Proverbs 29:19

A servant will not be corrected by words:

 for though he understand he will not answer.

Jesus told us that he no longer calls us servants but friends.  He explained that a master does not reveal the whole plan and heart of a matter to his servant but a friend does.  A servant listens to his master and follows the directives.  He usually does not conform to the heart of the master.  A servant is usually hired for a specific task he already performs well.  Correction does not come easily because he is trained in a specific way.  We are the Lord’s friends and we should seek to understand and answer the Lord when he corrects us.  We love Him and we are not only His friends but children of God.  We want to be like Him and we are part of his family.   We are not hired servants but adopted children.  Let us be corrected by His rod and reproof and give Him delight.

Proverbs - Correction and Rest

Proverbs 29:17

Correct thy son, and he shall give thee rest; yea, he shall give delight unto thy soul.

Sometimes we feel we need rest so we don’t correct our children.  They will give us rest as we choose to correct them.  It takes a lot of effort up front but in the long run it will give us the rest we need.  The little things we train them in now will protect them from the big mistakes they could make later.  It is like weeding a garden before the weeds take deep root.  Sure, it takes a consistent effort to go out daily and remove the little weeds but we won’t have such a strenuous job later.  The motivation of having rest and having our children give delight to our soul can be the right one in order to correct them.  Note that the word ‘correct’ is used and not ‘punishment’. We ought to remember that the rest and delight from correcting the behavior using the rod and reproof.