“My son, give me thine heart and let thine eyes observe my ways.”
~~Proverbs 23:26
“My son…”
We begin this text with an entreaty to the offspring of the writer.
With these two words, we can glean a depth of meaning. “My”, meaning,
my own, not someone else’s child, but mine. Flesh of my flesh, bone of
my bone. Not my neighbor, nor my friend, but my son. He who shall
carry on after I am gone. He who bears my features as well as my name.
“…give me thine heart…”
What parent doesn’t wish for
their children to love them? We shelter them, feed them, clothe them,
and love them for no other reason than simply because they belong to us.
Our love for them isn’t earned and it is not feigned, but rather, they
learn to love us because we first loved them. A parent’s job is to
teach their children how to love, how to share, how to be kind, and how
to be generous toward others. Because we have shown them our love, we
too wish to be loved of our children.
“…and let thine eyes observe my ways.”
Look! See! Watch me. As I am, so shall you be. As I give, you give
likewise. As I behave, you do the same. As I love, you love as well.
As I serve God, so too, should you. Take heed at my actions and mimic
them yourself until you know what I know, until you stand where I stand.
My son, do as I do.
In meditating on this text, we see it
speaks of a parent teaching their son the way in which he should go.
But dig a little deeper, and we see the Father Himself beckoning us
closer.
“My son…”
God calls us as His sons and
daughters, not as refugees, not as castaways, but as members of His
family, bought and paid for by the blood of Calvary. He became flesh of
our flesh and bone of our bone so that we could become spirit of His
Spirit. Higher than the Heavenly host, we mere humans, made in His
image, are now “sons” of the Most High God, bearing the very Name and
likeness of the King of kings Himself.
“…give Me thine heart…”
God longs for us to truly love Him. It is the First Great Commandment.
Our hearts should beat for only Him. Our souls should long for His
Living Water. Our minds should meditate on His Law both day and night,
and our strength should be found in Him alone. Because He first loved
us and proved it by sending His Son to die in our stead, we should love
Him in return. We should stand in utter awe at the Glory of the cross,
where the beam of God's love crossed the beam of God's justice,
privileging us to enter His Holy of holies through the torn veil of our
Savior, into His manifest presence.
“…and let thine eyes observe My ways.”
In this, we have a merciful Father. We are not left wanting for an
example to live by. Like any loving Parent, Yahweh Elohim gave us the
ultimate example of how we should live, how we should love, and how we
should worship and adore Him. Look to Christ, believer. Observe His
ways. His ways are higher than ours, but we can still strive toward
them. God is Light; in Him, there is no darkness at all. Anyone who
claims to know Him should walk as Yeshua walked. God wants to take your
hand. He wants to look into your eyes and say to you, “My son, My
daughter, take heed at My actions and mimic them yourself until you know
what I know, until you stand where I stand. My precious child, look!
See! Do as I do.”
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