“The simple inherit folly, but the prudent are crowned with knowledge… Do they not go astray who devise evil? Those who devise good meet stedfast love and faithfulness.” Proverbs 14:18,22
September 7, 2026
“Every man should leave a monument behind him in recollection of his own life by his neighbors. There must be something very much amiss about a man who is not missed when he dies. A good character is the best tombstone” (C.H. Spurgeon, John Ploughman’s Talk). We must read Proverbs as truth that is profitable and equips us for every good work (2 Tim. 3:16-17). Proverbs is not a book of moralisms. It gives us the fine details of a portrait of Christ-like living. Wisdom tells us that we sow a thought, reap an act; sow a habit, reap a character. The simple are the immature and dismissive of divine truth. Life is hard on those who value themselves more than they do God. Folly is the result of sin. It is more than just slap-stick comedy. It is disorder, stupid, senseless. Not all folly is sin, but all sin is folly. It can be put this way, “to flee from God to some far country and search for fulfillment is to find only ‘black-market substitutes’” (Richard Loveless). Dear reader, know that a life lived with God-given understanding has a good ending. What will be said at your funeral?
H
Reflection:
Can you identify a truth of God in your life that is both beautiful and beautifying?