“Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.” (Proverbs 22:6, KJV)
Many seminaries teach that the book of Proverbs contains many axiomatic statements that have a greater probability of success than not. I can understand why they teach that. They don’t want the book of Proverbs to be read like a book of spells. This would also undermine how God works. If God is going to make a promise, he will make it known that it was him (not necessarily us) that kept it. We can’t think of something that we want and then try to pair that with a power that amplifies that such that Shazam; it happens. We have to draw on what is actually in his word and plant that seed in an ever present trust to see what he will make of it.
The Proverbs give us a nice list of good practices. Planted in trust and patiently watched we find that they are more than that. We don’t really control the length of our own life much less the length of life of the person behind us. Yet is not a single moment when they really see the Lord and it finally clicks greater than ten lifetimes? That is what David sees when writing Psalm 84:10. Do not experiences like these make you older in a sense of maturing you and giving you a reason not to depart?
“In the way he should go” allows for a wide range of implementation. We all have our “the way things ought to be” novels, but actually training that out to another person who may have different ideas requires an enormous working trust between us and God. Not to mention patience, steadfastness, and more.
What if promises can be designed to require two or more to come together? Ephesians 6 really talks to this idea of spiritual warfare. Have you noticed how that chapter starts out? Paul highlights a specific commandment that does come with a promise. Looks very similar to the verse above, but this time it requires something of the child. Could it be that the dynamics within the family trusting in God together make up a foundation for a very real lesson on spiritual warfare? It may explain fundamental attacks on the core family unit.
“Honour thy father and mother; (which is the first commandment with promise;) That it may be well with thee, and thou mayest live long on the earth.” (Ephesians 6:2,3 KJV)