“Solomon’s proverbs: A wise son brings joy to his father, but a foolish son, heartache to his mother. Ill-gotten gains do not profit anyone, but righteousness rescues from death. The Lord will not let the righteous go hungry, but he denies the wicked what they crave. Idle hands make one poor, but diligent hands bring riches. The son who gathers during summer is prudent; the son who sleeps during harvest is disgraceful.” (Proverbs‬ ‭10‬:‭1‬-‭5‬ ‭CSB‬‬ – Read the chapter)

Today we start a new section in our journey through Proverbs. We have made it through the lengthy opening section featuring Solomon offering wise counsel to his children. That section flowed fairly smoothly and there was a significant amount of continuity from one verse to the next. This next section has us entering the rhetorical territory we typically associate with Proverbs. For the next few weeks, we are going to be working our way through individual proverbs. Rather than taking one proverb at a time each day, though, which might take us the next couple of years, we’ll take a look at them in blocks. Some will invite longer reflection than others, but all of them invite us to consider what it looks like to live in the righteousness of God. Let’s get started.

These proverbs along with most of the proverbs we are going to encounter on this journey were collected and written down for us by Solomon. But not all of them were. That’s why we get the label here that these are “Solomon’s proverbs.” And he starts here with a proverb that rings with thematic similarity to the opening section, offering us a nice, smooth transition into this new section.

“A wise son brings joy to his father, but a foolish son, heartache to his mother.” Now, this is not to suggest that a wise son doesn’t also bring joy to his mother, or a foolish son, heartache to his father. It also doesn’t mean that daughters can’t do all of the same things depending on whether they are wise or foolish. We could substitute “child” in for “son” and not change the meaning of what Solomon is trying to convey in the least.

This is one of those proverbs that is self-evidently true. When a child demonstrates wisdom, that brings joy and delight to his or her parents. A wise child brings this joy to them for reasons of personal satisfaction, but also social reputation. As a parent, it feels good and gratifying to see your children make good and wise choices. As we talked about throughout the opening section, wisdom isn’t something we stumble into on our own. When someone demonstrates wisdom, they have been trained well by someone else. Wise children point to wise parenting. The world looks at such a child and concludes, “That child must have been raised well.” Boom. Parental joy in abundance.

On the other hand, seeing your child make foolish choices breaks your heart. It leaves you wondering where you failed along the way that they would fall into such a pit as they are in. Others look at them and wonder the same thing. It may not be your fault at all, but it’s hard to avoid the feeling all the same.

The challenge here is twofold. On the one hand, as a child, you should want to honor your parents by bringing them joy and not heartache. That good and healthy desire to please them should motivate you in positive directions. On the other hand, as a parent, you should aim to raise your children in a way that will bring you this joy and help you avoid this heartache. That takes intentionality on your part. They aren’t going to accidentally stumble into wisdom. If you abdicate this job to someone else, the someone else they go to for it may not lead them in the right direction. You need to take ownership of the task God has given you and raise them to be wise. Now, if they make foolish choices anyway, that’s on them, but you’ve got to do your part.

“Ill-gotten gains do not profit anyone, but righteousness rescues from death.” This is one of those proverbs that seems like the experience of the world often proves it wrong. Remember here that proverbs are not promises. They simply describe how the world works all things being equal. Because of sin, though, all things are not equal. And, as followers of Jesus, we need to see all of these through the lens of God’s final kingdom. Ill-gotten gains – wealth acquired by unsavory or even outright sinful means sometimes does appear to bring great profit to a person. But it rarely lasts. And it definitely doesn’t last beyond the boundaries of this life. Appearances can be most deceiving here, especially when we are only thinking and looking through a short-term lens, but hard, honest work is always the best way to amass a fortune that lasts.

Meanwhile, pursuing a path of righteousness can save you from all sorts of trouble. This also isn’t a guarantee in this life. You can probably think of a plethora of examples of righteous people who were put to death by the unrighteous. Yet in the ultimate end, they will find life everlasting in God’s kingdom if their righteousness is rooted in Christ and Christ alone. So, yes, righteousness absolutely rescue from death.

“The Lord will not let the righteous go hungry, but he denies the wicked what they crave.” Yes, sin can get in the way of the first part’s seeming to be fulfilled. Across the world today we produce way more food than we need to feed the entire planet. This is the gift of God through scientific innovation in agricultural. A generation ago this didn’t exist and there were loud voices who feared mass, global starvation. They have been proven decisively wrong in every way. Now, if anyone doesn’t have enough food, that’s because of poor stewardship somewhere of the food resources that are available. Yet God is not limited in how He provides for His people. He feeds bodies and spirits alike, and can take care of those who are His.

As for the second part, we have to clarify what it is the wicked ultimately crave. Do they crave wealth? Fame? Comfort and luxury? Long life? A lasting impact or reputation? Whatever it is, if they are trying to achieve it on their own, apart from God, they will eventually find it slipping through their grasp. They will find this – He will do this – to remind them of what Jesus Himself declared: apart from Him we can do nothing. That’s not an absolute nothing, of course, but rather a statement that all of our efforts to advance our lives and experience the kind of ultimate good we desire will come up empty if we don’t do them in pursuit of Him and His righteousness first. When we do that first and foremost, however, all these things will be added to us.

The last two proverbs here communicate the same thing in a nicely chiastic form: “Idle hands makes one poor, but diligent hands bring riches. The son who gathers during summer is prudent; the son who sleeps during harvest is disgraceful.” If you want to accomplish anything worthwhile, it is going to take hard work. This doesn’t mean we can’t ever get any meaningful rest. We need that. But God made us to work. Work existed before sin entered into the equation of creation. It is a good thing that we should pursue to the glory of God. Not only is hard work the primary means by which God created us to be able to enjoy the good things of His world, but refusing work – especially at a time for work – is shameful. It brings dishonor to our hardworking Creator who made us in His image.

In a culture that glorifies laziness and becoming rich by doing things that add no real worth or value to the world, if we as Jesus followers could be known as people who work hard to the good of our communities and the glory of God, that would be a pretty good thing all by itself. Wouldn’t it be cool if employers nationwide sought first to hire Christians for open positions because even though they may not agree with us and may think our beliefs are downright bizarre, they know that we’ll be the hardest, most honest workers? What a difference that would make! Let’s be that kind of people.