17 Whoever is kind to the poor lends to the Lord,     and he will reward them for what they have done.18 Discipline your children, for in that there is hope;     do not be a willing party to their death.19 A hot-tempered person must pay the penalty;     rescue them, and you will have to do it again.20 Listen to advice and accept discipline,     and at the end you will be counted among the wise.21 Many are the plans in a person’s heart,     but it is the Lord’s purpose that prevails.REFLECTIONSWritten by Sherine SinghThese five verses are quite different to each other and touch different aspects of wisdom. A question that comes to my mind while reading this passage is, “Don’t you want to live wisely?”I have a great deal of trouble picturing myself as the creditor of God (v 17). How can we possibly say that we have loaned God from our bank account and now he is the debtor? Everything we have is rightfully God’s, so the idea here is not that God owes us something.What is this proverb saying, then? Sometimes we might be tempted not to give up our hard-earned money or possessions to help someone who won’t be able to repay us. This verse is saying: Don’t let that stop you from being kind and generous to the poor, because God will repay your kindness. Think of it as lending to the Lord – he has infinite treasures to reward us with, and Jesus tells us to store up our treasure in heaven (Matthew 6:20).Look out for vulnerable people. God cares about the poor, so trust him by being generous. Trust is the one human attitude that looks away from our sufficiency to God’s sufficiency. Verses 18 and 20 are about discipline. Our heart is bounded by foolishness. If we don’t discipline our children, they will choose the wrong path. If we harden our hearts or believe it’s too stressful to discipline our children, we will make things worse for them in the end. Do not be afraid to punish your children, though always motivated by love and not in anger. You may save them from eternal pain and suffering. An angry person has many troubles because of their anger (v 19). A wise act would be learning to be patient and also learning to behave well. I would love to be wise. How do we do that? We do it by reflecting God’s way and his glory.Finally, the Lord’s purpose always prevails (v 21). It’s 0% chance and 100% God’s way. All things happen because God has purposed them to happen. For prayer: May the Holy Spirit compel us to be generous to poor and needy, discipline our children out of love, and not be gullible but rather show discernment in all levels of life.ABOUT THE AUTHORSherine is part of our Fairfield Morning Church and enjoys spending time with her five children and adventuring around the surrounding parklands.