Gold Nugget 369 - Hope Against Hope

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      We suppose that education does everything, and we look to see the children of godly parents grow up godly, and are apt, without any inquiry into the circumstances, to suppose that every ill-conducted young man must have been badly brought up.  The dictum of the wise man, “Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it”, may be quoted in justification of such views, and is often quoted, as if it were a rule without any exception.  But no proverb is of this character.  All are general rules, which admit of exceptions …

      “Instruction,” education, training, though sometimes of no avail, have, in the majority of cases, very great weight.  Even when they seem to have failed, it often happens that their results remain deep buried in the soul, and in the end show themselves, and are of sufficient force to snatch many a brand from the burning.  The parent must not despair because he does not see much fruit of his labours at once.  He has to do his best, to “liberate his own soul,” to see that, if his child be lost, it is not owing to his neglect.  He has to “hope against hope,” to persevere with his efforts, to be unwearied in his prayers, to do the utmost that lies in his power to lead his children into the right path.  A parent ought never to despair.  While there is life there is hope. … The mercy of God is unsearchable, unfathomable.

      The influences which go to form each man’s character are countless, and with hundreds of them a parent has nothing to do.  Again, there is “the personal equation.”  There do seem to be some who, “as soon as they are born, go astray and speak lies.”  It is among the mysteries of man’s existence here on earth that natural dispositions should so greatly vary.  No parent of many children but knows, by certain experience, that this is so.  One child gives no trouble, and scarcely requires any guidance.  Another is willful, perverse, headstrong, almost devoid of good impulses, and full of inclination to evil.  Parents are answerable for neglect, for unwisdom, above all for bad example; but they need not fear, if they earnestly endeavour to do their duty by their children, that in God’s just judgment the iniquity of their children will be imputed to them.  “The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son” …

 

The Pulpit Commentary, II Kings p. 318-319, II Kings 16:1-4, (G. Rawlinson)

See also:  Proverbs 22:6,

 

Gold Nugget 369

Hope Against Hope