Rebellion. The word seems to carry a certain sense of anger, or hurt, or maybe a feeling of oppression in its tone. But what would we say rebellion represents? How can we understand it biblically rather than emotionally? Judi and I would like to take a couple of moments to share some thoughts from our mini-book, HELP! My Teen Is Rebellious. You can see the book here.
In order to help you to identify the rebel in your child, we have included a chapter in the book that does this very thing for you. The way that we unpack the identification of the rebellion and its different forms is by looking at the different words Proverbs uses for the fool. Why the fool? Foolishness is in essence the bent away from God. That bent away from God is rebellion or the desire to be independent of Him. This bent started in Genesis 3 and has been innate to our human condition since then. This bent is to be addressed by several means according to Proverbs.
Now, what are the different kinds of fools or rebels found in the Proverbs, and how do we recognize them? The Bible uses five different words to describe a series of progressions away from God. The word progression is not always recognizable in our English. You can look at our book to get the specifics in the Hebrew and its nuances. The SIMPLE FOOL is immature and open to influence, good or bad (Proverbs 7:7). The SLOW FOOL is dull and obstinate. He/she has a tendency to make wrong choices (Proverbs 10:23). The SETTLED FOOL is moving into a pattern of insolence of anti-God living in his/her choices (Proverbs 10:14, 21). The SHAMEFUL FOOL has closed his/her mind to the voice of reason and discussion about what God desires and sees as right. He/she does not care about the consequences (Proverbs 17:21; compare Psalm 14:1). The SCORNING FOOL is extremely contemptuous in his/her attitude and actions towards anyone who represents God or God’s authority (Proverbs 22:10).
Parents and others in authority must distinguish these forms of rebellion. As with any other progression, the transitions or movement from one nuance to the next is not so much linear as it is a building of layers away from God and righteousness. How we respond to the rebel will depend on his/her overall movement and attitude or display of godlessness. We may decide that someone shows traits of the scorner, so we may have to remove them from influencing others for a time to see if they change their trajectory back towards God. But we must first deal with the rebellion in our own hearts. Feel free to get out book which explains further in detail the process of seeing our own rebellion and then responding to our children’s rebellion.
I truly prize your work, Great post.