Friday, October 17, 2025
Scripture Readings
- Primary Reading: Proverbs 27-28
- Secondary Reading: Psalms 120
Key Verse
Proverbs 28:1 — “The wicked flee when no man pursueth: but the righteous are bold as a lion.”
Devotional Thought
Solomon’s proverbs in these chapters are not a random collection of wise sayings but a father’s earnest counsel to a son he loves. Again and again he addresses him directly: “My son, be wise, and make my heart glad.” He writes as one who has watched men rise and fall, who has seen riches take wings and rulers topple, and who knows that a life built on appearances will not stand. The recurring themes are striking: the danger of pride and self-praise, the value of a faithful friend’s wound over an enemy’s kiss, the folly of hasting to be rich, and the mercy promised to the one who confesses and forsakes his sin rather than covering it. Here is wisdom that does not flatter. It tells us that a fool’s wrath is heavier than sand, that a contentious woman is like a continual dripping on a rainy day, and that even braying a fool in a mortar will not remove his foolishness. Yet it also tells us that “whoso walketh uprightly shall be saved” and that the righteous are “bold as a lion.”
Psalm 120 gives voice to what it feels like to live among those who hate peace. The pilgrim cries out in distress, surrounded by lying lips and deceitful tongues, sojourning in Mesech and dwelling in the tents of Kedar—far-off places, hostile places. “I am for peace,” he says, “but when I speak, they are for war.” This is the honest prayer of a soul worn down by conflict, and it stands near these proverbs like a companion piece. Solomon tells us how to live wisely among difficult people; the psalmist shows us where to take our grief when they will not listen.
It is mid-October, and the season itself preaches the same lesson. The leaves are falling, the nights are lengthening, the year is quietly dying back. Autumn teaches us that nothing earthly endures forever—”riches are not for ever: and doth the crown endure to every generation?” The farmer who is diligent to know the state of his flocks, who gathers the hay while it appears, is the same man who understands that today’s abundance must be tended, not presumed upon. “Boast not thyself of to morrow,” the proverb warns, “for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth.” Every harvest is a mercy, not a guarantee.
And yet the passage is not gloomy. It holds out real hope. “He that covereth his sins shall not prosper: but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy.” “Happy is the man that feareth alway.” “Iron sharpeneth iron; so a man sharpeneth the countenance of his friend.” God has given us friends who wound us faithfully, neighbors near in the day of calamity, and a LORD who hears us when we cry in distress. The wise life is not a life without trouble; it is a life that tells the truth, trusts the LORD rather than its own heart, and walks uprightly even when the tents around us are for war.
Reflection
- Where in your life are you tempted to cover sin rather than confess and forsake it, and what would honesty before God and a trusted friend look like this week?
- Psalm 120 says, “I am for peace: but when I speak, they are for war.” How do you respond when those around you will not make peace, and are you bringing that distress to the LORD rather than carrying it alone?
Prayer
O LORD, Thou who hearest when we cry in distress, we come to Thee as pilgrims in a land that is not our home. Search us and know us; expose the sins we have covered and grant us the mercy promised to those who confess and forsake them. Make us swift to hear rebuke from a faithful friend and slow to trust our own hearts. Keep us from boasting of tomorrow, from hasting to be rich, and from the pride that stirs up strife. When we dwell among those who hate peace, let us still be for peace, and let us cast our burden upon Thee, who alone art able to deliver our souls. Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Psalm Verse
Psalms 120:1 — “In my distress I cried unto the LORD, and he heard me.”