The Proverbs Series: Wisdom's Friends
Walking the Wise Path to the Good Life
Dear #DailyFollower,
Introduction
We're halfway through one more week of February, and 2025 continues to roll by. I hope you’re having a productive week and year so far.
We continue in Proverbs 3, building on the two things shared in yesterday’s letter that will guarantee our access to the good life. King Solomon shares a couple more things that would aid the journey to the good life - things I refer to as friends of wisdom.
If you’ve just found the #DailyFollower newsletter, I’m excited you’ve stopped to read this letter, giving it 2-3 minutes of your precious time. If you have a few more minutes, check out my post on why I write these letters here and all of the letters from the Proverbs Series here - these letters share profound wisdom that sets us on paths that take us to the good life.
Now, let’s explore these friends of wisdom.
The Text
Proverbs 3:3-4, AMPC
3 Let not mercy and kindness [shutting out all hatred and selfishness] and truth [shutting out all deliberate hypocrisy or falsehood] forsake you; bind them about your neck, write them upon the tablet of your heart.
4 So shall you find favour, good understanding, and high esteem in the sight [or judgment] of God and man.
Proverbs 3:3-4, EXB
3 Don’t ·ever forget kindness and truth [let loyalty and faithfulness abandon you]. ·Wear [Bind] them ·like a necklace [on your neck]. Write them on your heart as if on a tablet.
4 Then you will ·be respected [find favour] and will please both God and people.
Some Thoughts
The wise who remember and obey God’s Word would make it a duty not to forget and forsake mercy, kindness and truth (wisdom’s friends) simply because they are vital qualities that demonstrate the presence of wisdom in them.
In the spirit of “doing God’s Word,” the wise create a system that makes forgetting and forsaking wisdom’s friends difficult. Their system leverages Solomon’s advice to bind these mercy, kindness, and truth around their necks (in simple terms, keep them close) and write them on the tablets of their hearts (in simple terms, make them guiding principles for daily living).
Consistently keeping “mercy, kindness, and truth” close and living a life guided by these wisdom’s friends results in favour, good understanding, and high esteem from God and humans. A life filled with these three outcomes will always be described as a good life.
One Question To Ponder
How might hatred, selfishness, hypocrisy, or falsehood hinder my access to my promise for the good life?
Proverbs calls its readers to a deep level of self-reflection, and that’s what the meditative question for today calls for.
Solomon says when we don’t forget and forsake wisdom’s friends, we guarantee (“So shall you find…“) our access to favour, good understanding and high esteem from God and humans.
Conclusion
Just like in Joshua 1:8, AMPC, where God says, “For then you shall make your way prosperous, and then you shall deal wisely and have good success.“ Solomon is saying the ball of our outcomes is in our court; when we do what we must, we will find the favour, good understanding and high esteem from God and humans that usher us into our promised good life.
As I study the scriptures this year, I find more instances where God firmly places the balls of getting our desired outcomes in our court. All He’s waiting for is for us to pick these balls up and run with them, i.e., obey the terms of His instructions to get our desired and promised outcomes.
Isn’t that amazing? All we need to do is follow God’s instructions, and with a guarantee like that of the sun and moon showing up every day, we will have our desired and promised outcomes.
So, let’s get to work obeying God’s instructions and enter our promise of a good life.
Yours faithfully,
John, a #DailyFollower.