Proverbs 12:26 - The righteous should choose his friends carefully

“The righteous should choose his friends carefully”

Proverbs 12:26

God wants to bless us with good, godly friends. It is up to us to observe those around us and seek out friends that walk closely with the Lord. We all need friends that will encourage us in our faith and help us to grow. Friends that won’t make you suffer and experience harm. Proverbs 13:20 says that “He who walks with wise men will be wise, but the companion of fools will be destroyed.” The New Living Translation says “Whoever walks with the wise will become wise; whoever walks with fools will suffer harm.” God’s Word warns us about carelessly choosing friends. This is why it is so important to choose your friends wisely. Years ago the Lord helped me in this area and I have been grateful and thankful ever since. He warned me to stay clear of people that make it a habit to do wrong and sin against Him. He told me to love them, be kind to them, and pray for them, but He instructed me to not make them one of my best or closest friends. Proverbs 6:16-19 says “There are six things the Lord hates—no, seven things he detests: haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that kill the innocent, a heart that plots evil, feet that race to do wrong, a false witness who pours out lies, a person who sows discord among the brothers.” If you know someone that is like that and you are still running with them, you may want to step back from being closely knit with them and ask the Lord to give you some new friends, friends that wholeheartedly love and live for God. Your life will be blessed if you do. It will have so much more peace. You will be grateful and thankful in the long run and see the wisdom that comes from God’s Word. God knows best. We just need to trust Him.

Father, the righteous should choose their friends wisely. May we do this Lord. May You bring wise people into our lives so that we can befriend them and grow in our faith. We want to be a blessing to their lives and we want them to be a blessing to our lives too. If we have any friends that are not good for us spiritually, may we step back from the relationship and trust You to bring us some friends that You want us to have. Friends are for reasons and seasons. May You be in control of the seasons. We thank You for the good, godly friends that we already have and we also thank You for the friends You are going to bring into our lives that are spiritually good for us as well. Do in our lives what You want to do. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.