Daily Devotion Wednesday Wisdom with Total Apex Media | December 31, 2025

It’s time for Wednesday’s daily devotion. As we’re progressing through our series on Proverbs 4, Solomon delivers some unfavorable details about the nature of man:

16 For they sleep not, except they have done mischief; and their sleep is taken away, unless they cause some to fall.

In today’s daily devotion, Solomon reveals why it’s so important to avoid the evil path. 

For They Sleep Not

We’ve all had sleepless nights or times in which falling asleep was difficult. Solomon isn’t speaking about people who have trouble sleeping because they’re ill or drank too much caffeine. For those who walk on a pathway of mischief, sleep escapes them when things aren’t going according to their evil plans. 

Those who enjoy wickedness usually recruit others; they particularly like to convince the righeous to abandon their good ways and join them in evil pursuits. Their minds conjure up schemes that they hope to see carried out. Psalm 37:12 says, “The wicked plotteth against the just, and gnasheth upon him with his teeth.” In your daily devotion, know that they’re not satisfied unless their evil plots come to pass.

Except They’ve Done Mischief

They don’t sleep unless they’ve done something mischievous. Oftentimes, it’s all about control and manipulation. It’s about causing someone’s life to be overturned from a righteous path. Isaiah 32:7 speaks of evildoers saying that “he deviseth wicked devices to destroy the poor with lying words, even when the needy speaketh right.” 

In Wednesday’s daily devotion, evildoers don’t like being shown up. If someone who has a righteous lifestyle is prosperous in life, it’s an indictment against their own lifestyle. They recoil seeing someone who’s living for God, joyful, and blessed. They plot and plan mischief so that the person will fall, and they’ll feel exonerated. 

Their Sleep is Taken Away

If their evil plans aren’t successful, they can’t sleep. If they’ve been plotting, planning, and scheming for a long time and haven’t seen results, they’re at their wits’ end. Their plans circle in their head, and they can’t rest until they’re fully realized. Micah 2:1 says, “Woe to them that devise iniquity, and work evil upon their beds! When the morning is light, they practise it, because it is in the power of their hand.” After a sleepless night, they’re ready to perform evil.

In this daily devotion, it’s clear evil doers love plotting evil, but when judgment comes, they’re upended: “Though hand join in hand, the wicked shall not be unpunished.” The wicked won’t get away with evil doing. When Jezebel had Naboth killed because he wouldn’t sell his field to Ahab, she was on top of the world. She also threatened to kill the Lord’s prophet. Then, punishment came swiftly. She was thrown out of a window and eaten by dogs. 

Unless They Cause Some to Fall

In your daily devotion, notice that if they haven’t caused a takedown in someone’s life, they’re unable to slumber. They’re consumed with someone else’s downfall without realizing they’re contributing to their own. Their evil deeds will one day catch up with them, like they caught up with Jezebel, and they’ll have no escape.

Psalm 1:6 says that “the way of the ungodly shall perish.” In other words, it will lead to destruction. Opposing God’s word and His people will not be to the wicked’s advantage. They are snared by their own transgressions and brought down by their own unrighteous ways. 

Final Word

In today’s daily devotion, it’s evident that those who oppose God can open themselves up to terrible consequences. Stay on the righteous path; the evil path has destruction on every side.