The book of Proverbs is a collection of wise sayings penned by several people. Today’s text comes from a portion of Scripture that King Solomon wrote. Tragically, the challenge was one that he himself failed to follow. He wrote, “Walk with the wise and become wise, for a companion of fools suffers harm” (Proverbs 13:20). Yet he’d surrounded himself with one thousand pagan wives and concubines (1 Kings 11:3), which was forbidden by God (v. 2), and they drew Solomon away from Him: “As Solomon grew old, his wives turned his heart after other gods, and his heart was not fully devoted to the Lord his God, as the heart of David his father had been. He followed Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, and Molek the detestable god of the Ammonites” (vv. 4-5). God desires instead that we surround ourselves with those who encourage us to love Him and others.