Weekly Devotional 26th of September, 2025
by Bruce Billington
Weekly Devotional 26th of September, 2025
In this session, we will look at Proverbs Chapter Three.
Proverbs 3:1-4 – “1 My son, do not forget my teaching, but let your heart keep my commandments. 2 For length of days and years of life, and peace they will add to you. 3 Do not let kindness and truth leave you; Bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart. 4 So you will find favour and good repute in the sight of God and man.”
Scripture calls us to live a life of communion with God, and if we learn to seek and cherish His wisdom in all that we do, our lives will be filled with many blessings.
He aims to instil something deeper in us than mere obedience or compliance. He wants us to accept His word and follow it with the right heart attitude. Most parents would agree that the kind of obedience we seek from our children is for them to do what they are told, when they are told, with the right attitude. Obedience without submission is just compliance.
Of course, we might argue that it is better to obey God than not to obey at all outwardly, but the Father delights in a heart that is inwardly surrendered. He desires obedience to flow from our hearts, and that we respond with joy when we know we are walking in the Father’s will.
Three times in this chapter, the writer reminds us to obey from our hearts by saying, “Let your heart keep His commandments” (verse 1), “write them on the tablet of your heart” (verse 3), and to “trust in the Lord with all your heart” (verse 5). English pastor and commentator Charles Bridges said, “The heart is the first thing that wanders from God, and the first that returns.” God seeks obedience from the heart, and He greatly rewards genuine submission to Him and His Word.
As we do this, we can expect to receive long life, peace, and prosperity (verse 2), and favour and good repute in the sight of God and man (verse 4). If we are to live a long life, surely, we would want the favour of both God and man to enjoy it. In this regard, we must also embrace verse 3, which calls us to embody kindness and truth. These are to be treasured like ornaments around our necks and written on the tablets of our hearts.
These verses teach us that those who keep God’s commandments protect their bodies and spirits from the physical and emotional illnesses that can lead to early death. Of course, we must understand that these promises are general principles, not guaranteed promises for believers. There are exceptions to these rules, as many of us have seen. Sometimes, a faithful and obedient believer will die young, as my first wife did.
However, these promises extend beyond this life—they begin the moment an individual trusts in Christ and continue into eternity. The peace mentioned in verse 2 is the Hebrew word “shalom,” which is one of the most powerful and meaningful words in the Old Testament. It is very profound and covers many different aspects of life, referring to a deep and all-encompassing peace.
The New Bible Dictionary (with some adjustments for clarity) describes it as follows:
Basically, the Old Testament word for peace (shalom) means ‘completeness,’ ‘soundness,’ ‘well-being. It is used when one asks of or prays for the welfare of another, when one is in harmony or concord with another, when one seeks the good of a city or country. It may mean material prosperity or physical safety. However, it may also refer to spiritual well-being. Such peace is the associate of righteousness and truth, but not of wickedness.
It is this that the writer of Proverbs is holding up to all to come, receive Christ, and discover not only what the wisdom of God is, but also the power to embrace it.
God bless you.
Bruce Billington