Hey, little buddies!
“Like a trampled spring and a polluted well is a righteous man who gives way before the wicked.” That’s Proverbs 25:26 and it contains a principle that I hope you’ll pay careful attention to.
Have you ever drunk from a spring? I have many times. Once when I was a boy I visited in the home of some people who had no well and who lived out in the country where there were no water pipes to bring water to their home, as there would have been in the city. They had to walk down a hill and bring water in buckets from a spring.
Some springs are safe to drink from and some are not. If you find a spring of water in a farm field, you may find that it has been trampled by cattle or other animals. If that’s the case, be sure you don’t drink from it! The water is probably full of germs that can make you sick.
It’s the same way with a polluted well. We have a well at our house and we get all our water from it. The well is enclosed so nothing can fall into it. Some wells have been ruined because a mouse or other animal fell into it and made the water unsafe to drink.
Our Bible verse is comparing a certain type of person to a trampled spring or polluted well. That’s a righteous person who “gives way” before the wicked. Do you know what that means? It means a person who knows what is right and wants to do it, but is persuaded to do something wrong by other people. I’ll bet you know kids who would like for you to do wrong things with them. There are a lot of kids like that around; kids who disobey their parents and hope that you will do the same. “Come on,” they say, “your mom and dad will never find out!”
Next time somebody says something like that to you, make sure you do the right thing. You will be ashamed of yourself if you don’t. And if you have friends that try to get you to disobey your parents or do other wrong things, stay away from them. You need to find some better friends.