August 7, 2023

The Bible Edge

Everyone needs an Edge, Believers can have a Bible Edge

Proverbs 25:19

Confidence in an unfaithful man in time of trouble is like a broken tooth, and a foot out of joint.

In case you care to know, this is my favorite word picture in the Bible. This is my favorite because all too often I’ve lived it and have found it to be all too true. In full disclosure, sadly, I must report that I have been on both ends of the saying. I have had confidence in an unfaithful man in times of trouble, and, sad to say, at times I have also been an unfaithful man to others who had confidence in me.

For example, years ago a friend of mine was to be deposed in a certain legal issue. I was supposed to be available at a certain time to be questioned during a conference call as the proceedings were several states away. The call was scheduled, but I forgot all about it. This was before cell phones. They never could reach me. Actually, I think I was on the golf course when I should have been standing by the phone waiting for the call. My friend lost confidence in me that day, for I caused him hurt. He had confidence in me, but I was unfaithful in that confidence. I still feel bad about that error in my life.

A broken tooth is painful, and a foot out of joint is painful. Both together, unbearable! Having both at one time means we hurt from head to toe. Take a step, feel the pain, clench your teeth, feel the pain, take a step and the cycle begins all over again. Putting confidence in a person and having that person be unfaithful with that confidence when things are going good is one thing, but in the time of trouble when confidence is needed most, to have a person be unfaithful with that confidence, that is another matter altogether.

For a person who has been trusted with a task or with important knowledge to be unfaithful to that task or information in time of trouble simply adds to the trouble. Therefore, remember today’s Bible edge. Be careful whom you take into confidence during your time of trouble; and when taken into a confidence in time of another’s trouble, be faithful with that confidence. If not, someone will find themselves hurting from head to toe, and that someone may be you.

William T. Howe, Ph.D.