Faithful Are the Wounds

The Body

This proverb makes a striking comparison, naming a friend’s wounds, presumably honest correction that genuinely hurts in the moment, as faithful, trustworthy, while an enemy’s kisses, presumably flattery or false affirmation, are named as deceitful, untrustworthy despite feeling pleasant in the moment they are offered.

This inverts an intuitive assumption that pleasant feelings indicate genuine friendship while painful ones indicate its absence. This proverb insists the opposite can often be true. A genuine friend’s honest wound, however painful, may be more trustworthy than an enemy’s flattering kiss, however pleasant it initially feels to receive.

This is worth examining against how you actually receive correction from those closest to you. Do you interpret their honest wounds as evidence of genuine faithfulness, or do you resent them, preferring instead the more pleasant but ultimately deceitful affirmation available elsewhere, from people less genuinely invested in your actual good.

Consider today one honest wound a genuine friend has offered you, perhaps recently, perhaps some time ago, and receive it today as this proverb describes, faithful, trustworthy, evidence of real friendship, rather than resenting the pain it caused in the moment it was delivered.