Tuesday, October 14, 2025
Scripture Readings
- Primary Reading: Proverbs 22-23
Key Verse
Proverbs 23:4 — “Labour not to be rich: cease from thine own wisdom.”
Devotional Thought
Solomon’s collection of proverbs in these chapters reads like a father’s urgent counsel to a son, and its central concern is the heart. The father knows that what a child treasures in youth will shape the whole of life, so he pleads, “Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it” (22:6). He returns to this theme again and again, commanding correction, warning against the “strange woman” whose mouth is “a deep pit” (22:14), and lamenting the drunkard who wakes from his stupor only to say, “I will seek it yet again” (23:35). This is a father who has seen ruin up close, and he refuses to be silent.
But the wisdom here is not merely a list of prohibitions. It is a vision of what a well-ordered soul loves. The one who fears the LORD receives “riches, and honour, and life” (22:4). The one with a “bountiful eye” is blessed because he gives his bread to the poor (22:9). The diligent man in his business “shall stand before kings” (22:29). And the father’s deepest longing is not that his son merely behave, but that his heart be wise: “My son, if thine heart be wise, my heart shall rejoice, even mine” (23:15). Wisdom is not cold rule-keeping; it is a warm, living trust in the LORD, purchased at any cost and never sold (23:23).
There is striking mercy woven through these warnings. The LORD is “the maker of them all,” rich and poor alike (22:2). He is the defender of the fatherless, whose “redeemer is mighty” (23:11). He pleads the cause of the poor and spoils the soul of those who spoil them (22:23). Even the discipline of the rod is an act of rescue: “thou shalt beat him with the rod, and shalt deliver his soul from hell” (23:14). The God of Proverbs is not a distant judge but a Father who guards the vulnerable and disciplines those He loves.
As autumn settles in and the year begins to turn toward its close, these chapters invite us to examine what we are feeding our hearts. The season’s harvest reminds us that we reap what we sow: “He that soweth iniquity shall reap vanity” (22:8). Yet the promise stands for those who sow in humility and the fear of the LORD. Riches “make themselves wings” and fly away (23:5), but the truth we buy and refuse to sell will not be taken from us. The father’s voice still calls across the centuries: “My son, give me thine heart, and let thine eyes observe my ways” (23:26).
Reflection
- What is your heart actually feeding on day by day — and does the fruit of your life resemble the wisdom this father commends, or the snares he warns against?
- Where might God be calling you to “buy the truth, and sell it not” (23:23), even when the cost is high and the crowd around you envies the careless?
Prayer
Heavenly Father, Thou art the maker of rich and poor alike, and Thou seest the hidden things of our hearts. Give us ears to hear the words of the wise and hearts that treasure them within us. Teach us to fear Thee all the day long, to guard our souls from the deep pits and snares that lie in wait, and to train up our children in the way they should go. Deliver us from the deceitfulness of riches and the drowsiness that clothes a man in rags. Give us hearts that are wise, that we may rejoice in Thy truth and walk humbly before Thee, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.