Weekly Devotional 19th September, 2025
by Bruce Billington
Weekly Devotional 19th of September, 2025
In this session we will continue to look at Proverbs Chapter One.
Proverbs 1:23 – “Turn to my reproof, Behold, I will pour out my spirit on you; I will make my words known to you.
Proverbs 1:28 – “Then they will call on me, but I will not answer; They will seek me diligently, but they will not find me.”
Proverbs 1:33 “But he who listens to me shall live securely and will be at ease from the dread of evil.”
After unveiling wisdom as a female “sidewalk preacher” (verse 20–21), the writer continues to engage us with her discussion. Verse 23 presents a wonderful promise: wisdom desires to reveal itself to us. Over the last century or more, God has granted humanity knowledge about this world and life within it (Daniel 12:4). While everyone on earth benefits from this wisdom, Scripture clearly indicates that they will miss out on the fullness of God’s wisdom, which is accessible only through a relationship with Him via His Son, Jesus Christ (Proverbs 1:7).
In the New Covenant, the Prophetic Person of God’s wisdom is His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Christ embodies wisdom itself, and He is personified in Proverbs’ passages that depict wisdom.
In Verse 23, Wisdom describes Her words as a rebuke or correction, with the root meaning “to determine what is right,” a Hebrew term used in judicial contexts. In this light, Wisdom invites fools to respond to her. There remains time for the simple, the mockers, and the foolish to repent. But they must turn from their sinful ways and turn to her by beginning to live rightly. Wisdom’s rebuke and invitation illustrate the convicting work of the Holy Spirit within the sinner.
It reveals so much about God’s heart that Wisdom longs to make Herself known to everyone—including those who need Her most and may have mocked Her. Through His all-embracing love, when people respond to the Holy Spirit’s conviction, the Lord Jesus Christ will unveil His wisdom to them. The New Testament sheds clearer light on this verse:
John 14:26 “But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you.”
Verse 26 warns that when the Lord ultimately deals with judgment and calamity, people will cry out for help, but wisdom will ignore them (verse 28a). They will seek wisdom, but she will be out of reach (verse 28b). Her attitude towards them will have shifted; she will no longer call out to them with compassion. Instead, she will laugh at them and mock them.
This may sound harsh or unkind, but it isn’t. Wisdom does not mock anyone’s disaster; she mocks the foolishness behind their choices. As commentator Bruce K. Waltke explains: “Wisdom does not laugh at disaster, but at the triumph of what is right over what is wrong when your disaster happens.” The Bible consistently teaches that this reflects God’s attitude towards unrepentant sinners on their day of judgment. All should take heed that, under the New Covenant, rejecting Wisdom’s counsel and reproof is the same as rejecting the Lord Himself. This benevolence will not be extended forever.
Verse 33 shows that the future of the wise is completely different. It is not dark or scary but joyful and amazing. Those who listen and follow Wisdom’s call to live rightly are kept safe and feel at peace. They have nothing to fear. This is their reward. This is the gift of God’s love and grace. This is what all who turn away from foolishness and fear the Lord through the atoning death of His Son, Jesus Christ, inherit. Christ—God’s personification of wisdom—is the only Saviour for mankind.
May God bless you.
Bruce Billington