Grief and Joy

DEVOTION

PROVERBS

GRIEF AND JOY

Prov 17:21

21 To have a fool for a son brings grief; there is no joy for the father of a fool.

NIV

Perhaps there is a little hint of the heart of Solomon regarding how he felt about one of his sons, but the point here is for all mankind for all ages. We also must remember how the Lord God defines who is a fool and we know there is pleasure in seeing one of our sons or daughters walk away from the household of faith. There is much grief within the heart of parents when one of their children takes those steps in the wrong direction. We can do all we can do in raising our children in the ways of God, we cannot control their lives. The scripture does promise, in fact through Solomon, that if we raise them up in the ways of God, when they are old they will not turn from it, but in their younger years after they have developed their own attitudes we cannot keep them from walking their own way, nor do we have the right to. That is why some parents experience this grief and lack of joy regarding a child who has decided to walk to the beat of a different drummer. As much as we try to give them faith, we cannot make them have it. As much as we might pray for them to return, if they refuse to listen to the Holy Spirit, the will remain the fool. Our love for them never ceases, never gives up, never diminishes, never stops hoping for the day of their return, as the prodigal son did, and when that day comes, there will rejoicing both here on earth and in heaven. The grief will be gone and the joy will be there. Now we should also see God as the Father and us as the sons and daughters. God grieves when one of his children, one of his creations, walks a life void of any relationship with him.  All mankind are the children of God, and many are walking as fools. God has no joy over those who walk without him, has much grief, for he desires that all should be saved.