Lesson 3: Tie your mother down

Those words, “Tie Your Mother Down,” were actually the title of a song, a very vulgar song by a very vulgar rock group back in the 70's.  The song encouraged young people to do things of which their mother wouldn’t approve.  If your mother gives you any grief, says the song, just “tie your mother down.”  Nice song, huh?  It also speaks just as dishonorably about the father.  I often wondered what the author’s mother actually felt about that song.  Sure, he probably told her that he wrote songs just to make money and that he really didn’t mean it.  And maybe she believed it ... but deep down in her heart, I wonder what she really thought. 

Listen to what the wise man said: “My son, hear the instruction of your father, and do not forsake the law of your mother; for they will be a graceful ornament on your head, and chains about your neck” (Proverbs 1:8-9).  Quite a difference between that and “tie your mother down,” isn’t it? 

Through the words of Solomon, God is attempting to make us wise.  That is the stated purpose of the book of Proverbs.  The beginning of knowledge is respect and reverence for God.  If we do not respect and reverence God and the things He says, we become fools.  The second step in being wise or obtaining knowledge is listening to your parents. 

If you don’t respect or reverence God, you will not listen to Him.  The same is true as regards listening to parents.  If you do not respect them, you’ll not benefit from their instruction.  As we look into our world today, it’s hard to find parents worthy of respect.  If a parent chooses to reject the counsel of God and not reverence Him or His word, the parent becomes a fool, just like Solomon says.  While children may not be fully educated, they are not stupid.  Even at their young age, they know who deserves respect and who does not.  I hear parents say, “My kids don’t respect me.”  The first thing such a parent needs to do is some self evaluation.  Maybe there is a valid reason their kids do not respect them. 

I was in a department store once and saw a mother and daughter looking over some posters to hang on the daughter’s wall.  There were posters of lions and bear and puppy dogs and kittens ... they skipped right past all of those and went for the pictures of half naked and vulgarly posed men.  The mother was oowing and aahing over those pictures right there with her daughter - helping her pick out the most vulgar one of all.  Then there’s the father who buys his daughter the sexiest prom dress he can find so his daughter will look good.  And what about the dad who leaves his “soft-porn” magazines out where his sons can find them.  What are parents thinking?  The fact is they are not thinking.  The fool is a non-thinking person.  When parents do things like this they show themselves to be fools and it’s no wonder that their kids don’t respect them. 

Solomon’s instructions in this proverb, therefore, are obviously meant to apply to those parents who respect and reverence God.  Moses taught the parents of Israel to live the word of God before their children - all day long.  He prefaced his statement with this command, “Love the Lord you God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength” (Deuteronomy 6:4-9).  That’s the kind of parents Solomon was talking about; parents, as Paul teaches, who will rear their children “in the training and admonition of the Lord” (Ephesians 6:1-4). 

Young people, “obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right.”  Hear their instruction, forsake not their law.  Be observant enough to see how rebellious children and children of foolish parents turn out in life.  Then observe how children reared in God’s Word turn out.  Observe how such people live without some of the horrendous life problems of the “unchurched.”  God-fearing parents with God-fearing children don’t have to deal with drug addictions, teenage pregnancy, alcoholism, abortions, criminal records, DUI, and being bailed out of jail.  They are not perfect, and occasionally God-fearing parents have children who will rebel against what they have been taught.  But those are exceptions, not the rule.  Be thankful for the parents you’ve been given and appreciate the godly training they are trying to give you.  That training, if you will follow it, will be a crown on your head and a gold chain around your neck.

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