Monday, October 6, 2025
Scripture Readings
- Primary Reading: Proverbs 9-10
Key Verse
Proverbs 10:8 — “The wise in heart will receive commandments: but a prating fool shall fall.”
Devotional Thought
Two houses stand in this passage, and both of them call out to the same person—the simple one, the one who lacks understanding. Wisdom has built her house, hewn out seven pillars, prepared a feast, mingled her wine, and set her table. She sends her maidens to the highest places of the city, crying aloud for the simple to turn in and eat her bread. But a foolish woman also sits at the door of her house, on a seat in the high places, calling to the same passersby. Her invitation is quieter, more private: stolen waters are sweet, and bread eaten in secret is pleasant. The tragedy is that her guests do not know the dead are there, and that those who enter her house descend into the depths of hell.
What strikes me is that both houses are in the high places of the city. Both are visible. Both extend an invitation. The difference is not in the volume of the call but in the nature of the table. Wisdom’s table is furnished openly with slaughtered beasts and mingled wine; Folly’s table is eaten in secret, and its sweetness is stolen. Solomon is showing us that the choice between wisdom and folly is rarely a choice between something obviously good and something obviously evil. It is often a choice between two invitations that both sound welcoming.
Then chapter 10 turns from the two houses to the ordinary streets where we actually live. A wise son makes a glad father; a foolish son is the heaviness of his mother. The hand of the diligent makes rich, but a slack hand leads to poverty. The mouth of the righteous is a well of life, while hatred stirs up strife and love covers all sins. In the multitude of words there wants not sin, but he that refrains his lips is wise. These are not abstract principles; they are the daily currency of family life, work, and speech.
It is October, and the harvest is in. Verse 5 says, “He that gathereth in summer is a wise son: but he that sleepeth in harvest is a son that causeth shame.” The season itself preaches. What we gather now—in our habits, our words, our hidden choices—will feed us in the winter to come. The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, and that fear is not terror but reverence: the settled conviction that God’s way is the way of life, and that His table, though open and public, is the only one that leads to multiplied days.
Reflection
- Both Wisdom and Folly call from the high places of the city—what “stolen waters” is Folly offering you right now, and what makes them feel sweet?
- In what area of your life are you sleeping in the harvest, and what would diligence look like this week?
Prayer
Lord, we confess that we have often listened to the clamorous voice of Folly and eaten bread in secret, not knowing that her guests are in the depths of hell. Forgive us. Turn us again to Your table, where the bread is broken openly and the wine is mingled for all who will come. Give us the fear of the LORD, which is the beginning of wisdom, and teach us to gather in the harvest while it is yet day. Let our mouths be wells of life and our hands diligent, that our days may be multiplied and our hope be gladness, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.