“Listen to your father who begot you, and do not despise your mother when she is old” (Proverbs 23:22).
The command to honor your parents is a lifelong duty. How it manifests itself may change over time, but it is a timeless divine expectation. In your earliest years of life, honoring your father and your mother includes a vibrant respect for their authority and obeying your parents in the Lord (Eph. 6:1). As your parents age and become grandparents and great-grandparents, this proverb gives explicit instruction on how you can and should honor them.
“Listen to your father who begot you.” He has lived 20+ years longer than you, and he still does know a thing or two about a thing or two. Because human nature does not change and wicked people are still as wily and deceitful as they have ever been, your father has a generation of wisdom more than you have. His advice may not always be as helpful as you would like, but you will never know until you listen.
“Do not despise your mother when she is old.” Satan and all his wicked allies love to prey upon aged women. Do not let him do that to the woman who made your life possible. Cherishing and protecting your mother as her vitality slowly wanes away is a practical and valuable way to honor her in her final years of life, especially if she is a widow. Just as a husband is to treasure and honor his wife because she is the weaker vessel (1 Pet. 3:7), so too adult children are to treasure and honor their mother as she journeys into her final years of life.
