by Bruce Billington

Weekly Devotional 11th of September, 2026

In this session, we will continue examining Proverbs Chapter 13. This chapter presents a recurring contrast between the upright and the wicked. 

Proverbs 13:16-18 – “Every prudent man acts with knowledge, but a fool displays folly. 17 A wicked messenger falls into adversity, but a faithful envoy brings healing. 18 Poverty and shame will come to him who neglects discipline, but he who regards reproof will be honoured.” 

Because Jesus knew what was in human beings, He did not commit Himself to them (John 2:24). Followers of Christ protect themselves by taking cover and avoiding company with anyone who lives immorally.

The narcissistic fools, who hate linking moral behaviour to its consequences, neurotically parade their foolish actions, making them look like grand achievements, only to discover that they make themselves look silly. 

The simple truth is that a person’s behaviour reflects their character. The wise study and reflect on their behaviour beforehand. They consider what is right and wrong, good and bad, helpful and useless, pleasing and displeasing to both God and humanity. As a result, they make sound, beneficial decisions. The foolish do not study and seldom, if ever, reflect on behaviour. As a result, they display their senselessness in every act. In fact, true fools are even proud of themselves and boast openly about their blatant disobedience to God’s Word.

Verse 17 – This proverb contrasts the character of the wicked messenger and their misfortune with that of the conscientious envoy and the healing they bring to the community. At the time this was written, messengers were professionally trained to high standards and were skilled in writing and languages, given the range of roles they filled, such as diplomats, soldiers, royal agents, military governors, intelligence agents, postmen, chaperones, and agents provocateurs. They had to be courageous and bold, and their training may have included studying military strategy and tactics. 

Because the LORD upholds a moral order, the wicked messenger perishes (literally, plunges himself into ruin) through evil. Whoever deals with a command and its client in an evil and selfish way, thereby creating confusion and tension between the client and his audience, finally falls into the evil he has created (cf. 2 Kings 5:26–27; Matthew 25:26; Luke 16:1).

The proverb is not concerned with the matter the messenger deals with, but with the messenger's character. The success of the ambassador’s mission depends on his inner stability, integrity, and conscientiousness, the virtues essential to any responsible service (cf. Job 33:23–26; Acts 20:27; 1 Corinthians 4:1, 2; 2 Corinthians 2:17; 1 Thessalonians 2:3–6).

Verse 18 - This proverb, like Verse 13, links reward and punishment to being correctable or irredeemable, respectively. The latter ends in shameful poverty, while the teachable (correctable) receives honour and wealth. 

Although there are many causes of poverty, such as laziness, love of pleasure and luxury, and wickedness and meanness, this proverb points to a more fundamental problem - the refusal to listen to the instructions that correct these flaws. Poverty due to moral failure brings disgrace. In all walks of life, we see that those who refuse to accept discipline are likely to encounter poverty and shame. On the contrary, those who submit to such discipline from others are esteemed in the eyes of others.