Wednesday, October 8, 2025
Scripture Readings
- Primary Reading: Proverbs 13
Key Verse
Proverbs 13:13 — “Whoso despiseth the word shall be destroyed: but he that feareth the commandment shall be rewarded.”
Devotional Thought
Proverbs 13 reads like a father’s steady voice across the kitchen table, naming the two roads set before his son and the ends to which each one leads. The wise son hears instruction; the scorner will not even be rebuked. The tongue that is kept becomes a kept life, while lips flung wide open run headlong into ruin. The sluggard craves and clutches at nothing, but the diligent hand grows fat with bread. Here is Solomon, that old king of Israel, gathering up the plain arithmetic of the world God made: righteousness keeps a man upright, wickedness trips him in his own path, and a lamp lit by the wicked is finally snuffed out.
Notice how often this chapter weighs words. Verse two says a man eats the fruit of his mouth; verse three says the one who guards his lips guards his life. A wicked messenger falls into mischief, but a faithful ambassador brings health. In an age of constant comment and instant reply, the proverb is not quaint. It is a warning label on the tongue. And notice, too, how the chapter prizes instruction. Verse eighteen sets poverty and shame beside honor: the one who refuses correction versus the one who regards reproof. Verse twenty adds the company we keep — walk with wise men and you will be wise; run with fools and you will be destroyed. The inheritance a good man leaves to his children’s children is not merely money. It is a life that can be imitated.
October is a teaching month. The school year is in full swing, leaves are turning, and the year itself is quietly instructing us that things end. Proverbs 13 tells us that all of life is a school, and the question is not whether we will be taught but whether we will listen. Verse twelve is the tender heart of the chapter: “Hope deferred maketh the heart sick: but when the desire cometh, it is a tree of life.” Every believer knows something of deferred hope — the long prayer, the slow healing, the child not yet returned. The proverb does not mock that ache. It acknowledges it, then promises the tree of life on the other side. And verse twenty-four reminds us that love is not indulgent; the father who loves his son chastens him betimes. God’s correction of His children is not rejection. It is the discipline of a Father who is making sons and daughters who can be entrusted with an inheritance that outlasts them.
Reflection
- Where in your life has instruction been hard to receive lately — and what might the Lord be saying through the very correction you are resisting?
- Who are the companions shaping you right now, and is the fruit of their influence drawing you toward wisdom or toward destruction?
Prayer
Father, we thank You for the plain wisdom of Your Word, which does not flatter us but tells us the truth about our tongues, our work, our friendships, and our hearts. Teach us to be wise sons and daughters who hear instruction and do not despise reproof. Guard our mouths, that we might keep our lives. Make us diligent rather than slothful, faithful rather than foolish. When hope is deferred and the heart grows sick, sustain us until the desire comes and becomes a tree of life. Correct us as a Father who loves us, and let us leave an inheritance of righteousness to those who come after us. We ask this in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.