A Lifetime of Hearts Connected
As God closes the message of the Old Testament, He looks ahead to what He is preparing to do in the New Testament. He is going to send His Son, but first He will send John the Baptist with a purpose near to His Father heart:
He will restore the hearts of the fathers
to their children
and the hearts of the children
to their fathers . . .
Malachi 4:6
It touches me that God was thinking of families then and was wanting the hearts of fathers and children to be restored to each other. Children need the wisdom of their parents. They are foolish to neglect it. However, there is no way they can receive that wisdom and no way parents can impart it effectively unless their hearts are connected. The father in Proverbs implores:
Give me your heart, my son,
And let your eyes delight in my ways.
Proverbs 23:26
Father and son in Greenbelt, Maryland, 1938
courtesy of Library of Congress
We live in an age when people spend hours and hours online searching for information. We watch videos, listen to podcasts, read articles, look up facts, read opinions, and listen to opinions. Often, we are looking for facts; sometimes we are looking for wisdom. I think that many overlook what was once an obvious place to find answers: the generation before us.
In the movie It’s a Wonderful Life, young George faces a perplexing problem when the distraught Mr. Gower puts poison in a bottle of medicine and orders George to deliver it to a sick person. Suddenly George notices an advertisement in the drug store. It reads: “Ask Dad. He knows.” Then off he goes to ask his dad.
The message of Proverbs is clear. Kids, have the same attitude that George did. Respect your Dad, give him your heart, and look to him for answers.
My son, if your heart is wise,
My own heart also will be glad;
And my inmost being will rejoice
When your lips speak what is right . . . .
Listen, my son, and be wise,
And direct your heart in the way . . . .
Listen to your father who begot you,
And do not despise your mother when she is old . . . .
The father of the righteous will greatly rejoice,
And he who sires a wise son will be glad in him.
Let your father and your mother be glad,
And let her rejoice who gave birth to you.
Proverbs 23:15-16, 19, 22, 24-25