What Comes Out Of Our Mouth…
I really
like the depth {no pun intended} of Proverbs 18:4. The words of a man’s mouth are deep
waters. You can really tell a lot about
a person when they open their mouth. Are
they harsh? Are they gentile? Do they guide? Do they command? Do they denigrate? Do they humiliate?
It has
often been said that the eyes are windows into a person’s soul. I genuinely believe that the tongue is a
direct channel into a person’s heart.
When a person’s tongue speaks truth and love, the heart is also
right. When a person speaks bitterness
and anger, the heart is in the same place.
Verses 6-8
also speak to us today about our words and how we use them. Verses 6-7 tell us about the fool. The fool uses his lips to walk into a
fight. The fool’s mouth invites a
beating. His lips betray him. His lips expose his soul for what it is. Verse 8 reminds us about the danger of
gossip, saying that the words of a whisperer are like delicious morsels which
sink deep down into our soul. When we
are around people who use words in foolish or hurtful ways our soul is tempted
away from the purity of life to which we are called by God.
Strong Tower
Proverbs
18:10 is another great verse. The name
of the Lord is a strong tower. Every
single time I hit a verse with this obvious piece of wisdom, I am always struck
by how easy it is to lose sight of this wisdom.
Of course the Lord is a strong tower!
But how quickly do I stray from the Lord and begin to do things my own
way? How quickly am I met with
temptation and find myself needing to be reminded that the truly wise are the
ones who turn to and cling to the tower of the Lord? I think there is a reason why this single
obvious piece of advice is repeated so frequently all throughout our
Bible. Although it is obvious, we as
human beings lose sight of it so very quickly.
Humility
Speaking of
wisdom that is repeated again and again, did anyone notice yet another
reoccurrence of the “humility comes before honor” in Proverbs 18:12. Here is another piece of advice that is
repeated over and over because it is necessary to understanding and resisting
the general human condition.
Taking Our Time To Think
Proverbs
18:17 is an incredibly powerful verse, especially in the economic and election
environment within which most of us find ourselves wrapped up. Essentially, this verse says that whoever is
speaking usually appears to make sense.
So, as people, I think we need to heed some strong advice. We need to always allot time to reflect
before making decisions. We need access
to the data. We need time to review
data. We need time to hear people. Then we need time to think without outside
influence. We need time to process. When making a decision, it is prudent that we
allocate some time where we can process things without being under outside
influence. Only then will we be able to
truly make the decision inside that God is calling us to make.
The Good Wife
I also
love Proverbs 18:22. He who finds a wife
finds a good thing and pleases the Lord.
Now, first things first. The
Bible says nothing negative about celibacy here so we must be very careful to
not infer anything. The Bible doesn’t
say “therefore he who doesn’t find a wife offends the Lord” and we must be
extremely careful to not read that into the text because it is very easy to do
so. In fact, we should remember that
Paul actually advocates a life of celibacy in several of his writings in the
New Testament.
That
aside, I think the wisdom of this proverb is a healthy understanding of
marriage. I should honor and value and
treasure my wife far more than I do.
Because I live with her every day, it is easy to feel the tarnish come
into the relationship. It is easy to
take her for granted. It is easy to
undervalue her contributions to the family.
No. Marriage is not about taking
the easy road. He who finds a wife finds
a good thing. My wife should be the
jewel in my crown. My wife should be the
one I long to support. My wife should be
my prize, my joy, and my love. {Second only to God, of course.}
Perhaps it
is silly for me to say that within the proverbs I find jewels of wisdom that I
should remember but so easily forget. I
think that’s the point of this book. It
is a collection of jewels of wisdom that we should remember but don’t. But today, that seemed to be the theme of my
reading.
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