Midweek Devotional for August 26, 2026

Wednesday, August 26, 2026

“The fear of the Lord is to hate evil; pride and arrogance and the evil way and the perverted mouth, I hate.” (Prov. 8:13)

Proverbs 8 continues Solomon’s personification of Wisdom as a woman calling men to hear the truth of God. Earlier in the chapter Wisdom called to the naive and the foolish: “Listen, for I will speak noble things” (8:6). Verse 13 now tells us something essential about the character of genuine wisdom. Wisdom is not simply knowing more, making better decisions, or possessing greater insight. True wisdom has a moral character. Because it begins with the fear of the Lord, it necessarily produces hatred of what God calls evil.

This is one of the major themes running throughout Proverbs:

“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction.” (1:7)

“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.” (9:10)

The fear of the Lord is not merely terror before God. It is profound reverence arising from the recognition of who God is and who we are before Him. God is our Creator, Lord, Lawgiver, and Judge; we are His creatures and servants. Wisdom begins when we accept that relationship and order our lives accordingly.

That is why Biblical wisdom can never be separated from our relationship with God. A person may be highly educated and successful by the world’s standards while remaining a fool according to Scripture. Wisdom begins with God.

In today’s verse, Solomon gives us an important test of whether our fear of God is genuine: “The fear of the Lord is to hate evil.” Notice the strength of the language. Solomon does not merely say that the person who fears God should avoid evil. He says that such a person hates evil. Why? Because the more clearly we understand God’s holiness, the more clearly we recognize the ugliness of everything contrary to His character.

Wisdom then identifies particular forms of evil: “Pride and arrogance and the evil way and the perverted mouth, I hate.” It is significant that pride and arrogance come first. Pride is responsible for so much human rebellion against God because pride says, in effect, I will determine for myself what is true, right, and good. That is the exact opposite of the fear of the Lord.

The person who fears God says, God has the right to define reality and righteousness. I submit my judgment to His. The proud person reverses that order. He places himself in judgment over God and God’s Word.

Pride is especially dangerous because it can prevent us from recognizing our need for correction. The humble person can be taught; the proud person assumes he already knows.

The expression “evil way” broadens the warning beyond individual sinful acts. In Proverbs, a person’s “way” is the direction or pattern of his life. That distinction matters. Sin rarely remains an isolated event. Choices become habits; habits establish patterns; patterns become a way.

Wisdom teaches us to recognize sin early. We should not ask merely, “How far can I go without committing serious sin?” Wisdom asks, “Where does this road lead?”

Finally, Wisdom hates “the perverted mouth.” The Hebrew word translated “perverted” carries the sense of something twisted or turned away from what is straight. Our speech becomes perverse whenever words are twisted away from truth and righteousness. This can include lying, slander, manipulation, gossip, vulgarity, or deliberately misleading another person.

Proverbs 8:13 gives us a useful measure of spiritual maturity. We sometimes measure growth by how much Scripture we know or how much theological knowledge we have acquired. Those things are valuable, but Solomon gives us another test:

What are we learning to love, and what are we learning to hate?

Growing in wisdom means that God’s judgments increasingly become our judgments. Things we once excused begin to trouble us. Pride becomes less attractive. Sinful habits become less tolerable. Careless speech bothers us more quickly. And the holiness of God becomes increasingly beautiful.

A prayer for your meditation:

“Help me to amend my life, to hate and abhor evil, to flee the sins I confess. Make me more resolute, more watchful, more prayerful.”

          The Valley of Vision, “Need of Grace”