He that troubleth his own house shall inherit the wind: and the fool shall be servant to the wise of heart. – Proverbs 11:29
When we do not take proper care for our own household, our lives become meaningless in the end, except that it might serve as an example of foolishness that the wise can learn from.
That’s what I think this proverb is saying, and there is a lot that we could consider here.
One of the most important tasks that mankind is given is to raise up the next generation. When we fail in this regard, our future is as empty as the wind—and often as tumultuous as a severe storm.
Being raised in an unhealthy home does not usually foster quality parent-child relationships. The parent, who would have inherited much had they performed their parental duties with care, are often left with little to no relationship with their children after they are grown and make a life of their own. In other instances, a parent might have to deal with watching their children grow up and make unhealthy life choices that perpetuate the same mal-adaptive behaviors that the parent displayed.
When unhealthy parenting becomes the norm within a society, what will that society inherit? What sort of future will that society have?
They will inherit the wind. This is an empty future. A desolate future.
All families have some sort of trouble because none of us are perfect, and many of us struggle to break free from generational habits of unhealthy living and bad parenting. However, to whatever degree that we can be wise and learn from the failings that we see in our own families or in our society, we can push forwards towards a better and more meaningful existence for present and future generations.
Our society is heading down a terrible path of destruction, and it all begins with the home. Our homes are troubled in so many regards that we could go to painstaking measures to describe them. However, there are root causes to look to.
Fornication is a big one. In-fact, most of our household-troubling trends fall under this category.
What is fornication?
Fornication is sex outside of marriage.
Marriage is a lifelong unity between a man and a woman.
This definition does not change, and fornication is still a sin despite what many say.
Fornication is the root of so many of our societal problems.
Abortion would not be a serious issue without fornication, for example.
We can also consider that a marriage as defined is under attack, and this is also fornication. Men are no longer men and women are no longer women. This happens in obtuse ways through denial of basic biology and glorification of gender confusion. However, it also happens in a society that despises healthy masculinity that is made by God to foster a desire to provide, protect, and lead. It also happens in a society that despises healthy femininity that is made by God to foster a desire to nurture and serve with gentleness and strength.
To make matters worse, fornication in all its forms is glorified in the schools and in media as they attempt to push indoctrination of fornication onto small children.
Welcome to Fornication Nation—a Land of Desolation! It’s the new national anthem!
God willing, there are enough wise who will see what this wicked and foolish generation has done and stand against it.
I’m no perfect parent. Not by a long shot and I need the grace of God to keep working on me and my home. I also know that if it were not for the grace of God, I would whole-heartedly pledge my allegiance to Fornication Nation, because that is how I was raised.
Jesus will not allow His to be deceived and indoctrinated into their destructive ways and He will also keep our hearts from being overcome with a holier-than-thou attitude and wrathful indignation. He will teach us to meekly instruct those who oppose themselves as they trouble their own households and our nation. He knows how to preserve His people in times of trouble and temptation and He also knows how to reserve the wicked for destruction. All things are part of His plan, and we can trust in Him.
As Christians, we can look at fornication in another respect as we consider ways in which we trouble the household of the saints of God—the temple of God of which we are all members.
While the world is going the way of Fornication Nation—a Land of Desolation, we can consider ourselves also. Do we fornicate in our hearts as we love this world? As Christians, we know that we cannot love God and love the world also. A love of the world is also fornication, and we need to search this out within ourselves individually and repent of it. We cannot love sin in any of its forms, and we cannot love heaping to ourselves an abundance of riches, pride, and a life of leisure and pleasure.
The sins of Sodom were more than fornication in the flesh—they were also “pride, fullness of bread, and abundance of idleness, and every abomination.”
As Christians, we do not want to be members of Fornication Nation—a Land of Desolation in any of her forms. Think of this in spiritual terms. We must “come out of her my people, that you partake not of her sins and receive not of her plagues,” as it is written of the Great Whore of Mystery Babylon.
We need to be as the wise who will learn from the fornication found within the church—in all its forms. We look to our own sins first. We raise our own children as uprightly as we can in faith. We do our own small part to turn this nation around and we trust in Jesus for the rest.
If it is His will to give our nation over to the lusts of the Great Whore, then we can continue to put our trust in Him knowing that although she will destroy many of us, Jesus sees all and He will raise His from the dead at His coming—a coming that will lead to a time that repairs “the desolations of many generations.” (Isaiah 61)
PREVIOUS STUDY: Considering Proverbs 11:28 – “He that trusteth in his riches shall fall; but the righteous shall flourish as a branch.“
The purpose of this bible study in The Proverbs is to consider present-day events in terms of the teachings and wisdom of Jesus Christ. Follow in WordPress or subscribe by email (red button at the bottom of each page below the comments) if you would like to join this discussion and receive updates of future posts. Visit the link above for easy access to all posts within this series
Jesus Alone 