I was due to offer peace offerings; Today I have paid my vows. Therefore I have come out to meet you, To seek your presence earnestly, and I have found you. Proverbs 7:14-15
We are continuing in this verse with the entiement and thinking of the harlot, the adulteress, as she seeks to lure a young man into her trap of sexual immorality. This verse is fascinating because it reveals that the adulteress has a religious side to her as well. Her comment to her prey is truly interesting because it speaks of someone who has gone and done their religious duty. Let's take a look at it today and seek to gain wisdom and reject stupidity as a result. Her statement is that her peace offerings are with her. The idea here is not that she has yet to offer them, but rather that her spiritual condition is one who is at peace with God - someone who has already offered this sacrifice to the Lord - and who, as a result, has some kind of stored up religious earnings. She thinks that she has religious credit on deposit - and therefore she can withdraw it in her current actions. This is the mindset of penance rather than repentance. Penance assumes that we can pay for our sins with some kind of religious ritual - and too often is seen as a payment up to date - with the result being that we can sin some more later. Repentance is a change of mind granted by God - with the result that by grace alone our sin is forgiven. Along with repentance is both restortation and regeneration so that we are truly changed. The one who has engaged in repentance IS changed by God - whereas the one doing penance is engaged in a works mentality where they have earned something from God. The adulteress here is stating that she is paid up - and has somehow earned the right to now engage in further sin. Having done her religious work - her religious duty - she is now free to live as she pleases. This is the danger of works-minded religion - it deceives the one practicing it into thinking that after they have sinned, they can just work some more - work a little harder - and all will be well. There is no transformation involved - just another IOU paid in full to God as they continue in their self-made menagerie of religous ritual. Today she has paid her vows . . . what vows? Evidently there is a supposed promise of reformation - but there is no action toward it coming any time soon. The next verse is so telling because in it she says, "Therefore I have come out to meet you, to seek your presence earnestly." Her comment is that having done her religious duty, having made worthless and empty vows, now she is free to engage in her sexual escapades. Her religion is merely a facade to further deceive whatever willing dupe is in her sites. She's ready to roll - now that she has played her religious game for the week - or the day - or however she works to maintain the illusion of being right with God. What a convenient religion this is. The danger here is that we will be drawn into an illicit relationship thinking that we are having adultery with a good person - a religious person. The reality is that we are walking over the pit that has been covered with leaves by the one hunting us. If we buy the lie and step over the hole, we will quickly find that what we've actually stepped upon is a trap. The lie was there to lure us into a false sense of safety. The reality is that we are now caught - and in grave danger. Just one last parting comment though - because this particular practice is even among those of us who are evangelicals. We need to be extremely careful that we are engaging in repentance before God and not just a protestant form of penance. When we come to confess our sins - we don't need to stop there. Too many (myself included unfortunately) just confess their sins - but do not go into the second part of 1 John 1:9. We are all about confessing a sin that makes us feel bad, feel guilty, feel caught - but are we truly interested in God's change in our hearts? The second half of that verse says that we also ask to be "cleansed from all unrighteousness." Here is the forgotten part. We need God to not only forgive - but cleanse us of the mindset and choices that led to that sin in the first place. We need to say to God, "Get rid of every 'unright' behavior, choice, thought, reasoning, and activity." There is where we can camp out for a while and have the Lord do a thorough heart searching in us. There is where we can be protected from the very sin these two verses reveal to us. We can move from penance to repentance - and in so doing - from merely salving our conscience for a few moments to true change.
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Do not speak in the hearing of a fool, For he will despise the wisdom of your words. Proverbs 23:9
There are people in life that you cannot speak to or teach. That is one of the irrefutable facts of life that you need to realize and embrace . . . or go crazy. Proverbs addresses this fact today. The fool is a dull, thickheaded, stubborn person who will not welcome or allow God's wisdom into his life. Proverbs 1:7 reminds us that fools despise wisdom and instruction. Three different words are translated fool in the Old Testament, and none of them are particularly flattering to the one who is a fool. The first is the Hebrew word "kesl" which speaks of someone who is spiritually dull and characterized by a mind closed to God and His Word. He is thickheaded and very stubborn in holding to his own ways, his own thoughts, and his own ideas. This person will usually reject information from others - and is especially beligerent toward information from God. This is the word used most often for fool throughout the book of Proverbs - and is the word used here. The second word for fool is "nabal" which refers to one who lacks any kind of spiritual perception or discernment. The third word for fool is "ewl" and speaks of the one who is arrogant, flippant, and mentally dull. he is also hardened in his ways and unwilling to change in response to information from others - and once again even more so when it comes to information from the Word or the Spirit of God. This is the person to whom you are speaking - who is either hearing you speak directly to him - or indirectly hears what you are saying. We need to see here that we are not even to speak in the "hearing" of a fool. This guy will not listen - his mind is closed to the things of God - and thus his ears are too. He is settled in his ungodly and worldly thinking. He will not just reject your words - he will despise them. The word despise is the Hebrew "buz" and means to hold in contempt and utter disrespect. What we have said here in Proverbs 23:9 is the same as we read in chatper 1 verse 7. They hate the wisdom of God. This probably sounds harsh to some who read this and react with the template of being tolerant of everyone's views. The problem though is not with the person who knows and loves God's wisdom - it is with the fool who is anything but tolerant of God's views. It is so important that we remember that God's wisdom is simply seeing things from God's perspective. We learn to look at things the way that God looks at them. We want to have His mindset and His heart. But when the fool hears these things - he reacts with disgust - even hatred! He wants NOTHING to do with God's Word or His ways. We see this in our society more and more. Those who are unsaved are becoming more and more hardened in their ways. They accuse us of intolerance - and yet as we love them and share the truth with them - it is they who are the intolerant. It is not that they just disagree with us - they want our views labelled as "hate speech" and forbidden from public discourse. They radically and hatefully respond to our views of morality - and see them as an afront to their very existance. Therefore when we speak - they will react strongly to us. Some will even become so angry that they will attempt to shout us down or shut us down. Others will go as far as taking our views to court to see them labelled as illegal. Thus they not only reject them - they reject having them spoken out loud even when they are not present. So how do we deal with this? First, we do what Proverbs says. We realize a fool when we run into one - and we don't speak in their hearing. It is not that we hide from them or take our message underground. We just simply speak to others instead of them. This is a tricky thing to manage, because we don't want to refuse the gospel to people. Paul was very harsh toward Christians before he was saved - yet the Lord wanted him to hear the gospel. Some who persectued the church - came to Christ simply because those persectured shared their faith with them. So, we approach this with wisdom and the leadership of the Spirit - not just our own tendency to react to the more strident in their views among the wicked. This being said, we do exercise wisdom and share with those who receive the message. To do otherwise would be to waste the message with those who will reject it outright. Even Jesus told us not to throw the pearls of the gospel before swine. He said that they would trample them under foot and turn to attack us. Kinda sounds like what Solomon is seeking to tell us here. So be wise - share the gospel and the wisdom of God freely - but be wise with those who reject it violently. Share with those who have a heart to hear - a heart where God is granting them ears to hear and a heart to respond to the Spirit's moving. They won't despise the Word or the wisdom of God. They will embrace it and prove it by the change that they experience in their lives. A fool's lips bring strife, And his mouth calls for blows. A fool's mouth is his ruin, And his lips are the snare of his soul. Proverbs 18:6-7
Our mouth can be a source of blessing or our downfall. For the fool the latter is more the case. His mouth is a means of trouble, strife, and eventually ruin. Let's try to learn from him today and avoid the things that happens when a fool is speaking. First we learn that a fool's lips bring strife. The idea here is that when a fool opens his lips to speak - along with his speaking comes strife. Evidently the fool is itching for a fight because that is what takes place after he speaks. His mouth calls for blows. The fool is the one who always has to have the last word - and that word is usually highly offensive to those who hear it. You watch the fool escalate his statements from offensive to provocative. He provokes those around him to the point where their anger is boiling over. He enrages people with the way he speaks - and the end of it all is blows - a fist fight. Rather than walk away from a growing tension, the fool throws gasoline on the fire and stokes it in every way he can. He does not have the ability to let an insult go - and just walk away. He has to one up the person who insulted him by offering an even greater insult. Actually, the fool usually is the one who starts all this - almost as if he or she is wanting the fight. At the core of all this is pride. The fool is filled with it. As I said earlier he can never let something go. Anything said requires his provocative response. He loves contention and controversy. He loves quarrelling and disputes. He thrives on hostilities and his words invite them constantly. A wise man knows how to calm people with his responses. The fool only inflames them. No wonder that in the end we watch him punching and being punched as the fight erupts. The next verse continues this thought. The fool's mouth is his ruin - and his lips are continually snaring his soul. The word ruin is the Hebrew word "mehittah" which means destruction, ruin, and terror. The root word for "mehittah" is "hatat" which means to be broken or afraid. The fool thinks he is bringing himself honor or at least respect when he won't take anything from anyone else. He thinks he is standing up for himself and that all others will know he is not someone with whom you want to tangle. But the opposite is true. His mouth is not bringing him respect, it is bringing him ruin. His mouth is a continuous source of terror for his life. He is constantly in danger because of his big mouth. He keeps opening it and getting himself in trouble. He says that he wants to stay out of trouble - at least that is what he tells the officer each new time he is arrested - at least that is what he says when he stands before the judge again and again - but his mouth is a snare for him. He speaks out for himself and in doing so sets another trap directly in front of himself to step into. We would consider a man the ultimate fool if he set a bear trap and then stepped into it - but that is what the fool does with his mouth all the time. Let me offer an example from real life. We read of sports figures who are constantly getting in trouble. It seems that they go from one altercation to another - in and out of a courtroom as if they were walking through a revolving door. Why does this happen? A lot of it happens because they have the mouth of a fool - and they use it in the company of other fools. Where do they go regularly? They go to bars and clubs. What happens to them - they run into other fools whose minds are dulled by alcohol. When they do some fool (either one at the bar or they themselves) opens their mouth in typical drunken arrogant fashion. Feeling "dissed" they then "bow-up" in pride and let their foolish mouth run free. Of course when you get two drunken fools like this together the escalation is not only going to happen - it is going to happen quickly. More foolish words are exchanged as they trash talk one another and, you got it, a fight breaks out betwen them. In recent years we've added to the fist fights - fools who carry guns with them into bars and other places - and someone becomes angry enough to shoot someone else. Then we get the court case where any normal person would be send away for their crime - but in the case of the rich, spoiled athlete - some deal is cut to let him continue to entertain us with his physical prowess. We never think about the damage done to our children who unfortunately are taught to idolize these fools - and who follow in their footsteps. Our mouths are incredibly powerful things. James says that our tongue's can set the course of our lives on fire - and that they can be set on fire by hell itself. That is why we need to learn things like humility, patience, and restraint. It is also why we need to be wise and to avoid the company of fools whose mouths continually snare their souls. Let your mouth be filled with the Word of God - with gracious and kind words - and with the gospel of Jesus Christ. Let your mouth become the instrument that brings you blessing - not the tool which the devil, working unhindered through your flesh, uses to bring you to ruin. Excellent speech is not fitting for a fool, Much less are lying lips to a prince.
Proverbs 17:7 Here is a proverb we all wish our elected officials would read each time we have an election. How interesting an election it would be to watch all our our candidates speak the truth. It would be viewed as a joke to speak of those seeking election as truthful men. One joke I've heard asks, "How do you know when a politician is lying?" The answer is, "When his lips are moving." That give us all that we need to know that this proverb would be such a blessing if it were heeded by those who seek elective office. We would not expect excellent speech out of a fool. The very character and nature of the fool lets us know that we should not be expecting the most wise of statements from him. When I listen to most comediens, I'm not expecting much more than foolishness. I don't listen to them expecting to hear stirring oratory - or amazing statements that I will never forget. The fact that this person is a fool pretty much means that expecting anything but foolish and ignorant talk will only lead to disappointment. The second half of this proverb though helps us to see what God wants in our leaders. Lying lips are not fitting for a prince. Those who lead us ARE to have character and integrity. Too often we've listened to the lies that godless politicians tell us when they say that we should not expect them to lead by example. We are told that they don't have to have character - they don't have to speak the truth. They don't need to be faithful to their wives. They don't need to have any integrity. Yet the facts of Scripture tell us that it is not fitting for princes to lie. It is not a good thing to have leaders who have no integrity. We should expect them to speak the truth. Think with me for a moment and realize that we have a serious problem in our government today. We have leaders who are expected to lie to us. We shouldn't put up with this - but should demand that we have people of character and integrity in Washington. Imagine with me what it would be like to have truth spoken in our capitol. Imagine laws based on something other than people trying to be elected again - laws based on what is best and what is ultimately needed and true. This is why we should remove liars from our government and replace them with men and women of integrity. We need to see restored once again the idea that it is NOT FITTING for our leaders - our princes to lie! The words of the wicked lie in wait for blood, But the mouth of the upright will deliver them. Proverbs 12:6
The person who said, "Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me," never read this proverb. We have before us here the full destructive power of someone's words - or at least the intent with which they speak them. But thankfully, we also have the truth that the words of a godly man are also powerful. Those described as "wicked" in this passage are those who are guilty. The word means someone in the wrong - who is guilty of an criminal offense. In the context of Scripture this word most often refers to one guilty of breaking God's Law - and thus one who has no desire to obey Him or submit to His ways. We read that the words of such a man "lie in wait for blood." A wicked and sinful man's words are harmful to others. It is so important to remember context here because just one verse earlier we were told that the counsels of the wicked are deceitful. They are filled with lies. The wicked seek to destroy people with their words. And their counsel will be harmful if followed, since it is driven by the fallen nature of man. For just a moment I want to equate the words of the wicked with some more modern things. It is one thing to see a wicked man whose words are like a scorching fire as they are spoken. But it is another to consider the words of the wicked in other forms. Ever consider the words of the wicked that are written down for a book or a script? Far too many do not consider reading and going to see the words of the wicked portrayed on a big screen. They are unaware of the worldview that is being portrayed for them. They are unaware of the danger of this medium and how it lulls us to sleep when we should be alert and awake. Here the words of the wicked do lie in wait for blood. They come upon people unawwares because they do not ever consider how the ungodly seek to influence us through their various mediums of communication. To be perfectly honest, these forms of getting their "words" out are more effective than just speaking because of how ignorant the church is to their real agenda. A movie maker trying to go to a church and tell the people to be sexually immoral would be escorted out of the building quickly, but when he puts those ideas into a romantic comedy starring two unmarried people, the saints pay to go see it. Either way he gets his message out - but how more effective it is when dressed in the garb of modern entertainment. A man or woman would never think of going to a random house to peek through their bedroom window at their sex life, yet they think nothing of watching a love scene through the window of the local movie theater. The second part of this proverb tells us that the mouth of the upright will deliver them. This could be taken one of two ways. First it can mean that the righteous man - by speaking godly words - by speaking the Word of God - is delivered from the designs of the wicked. It can also refer to others to whom the righteous man speaks. He declares God's Word, and by doing so delivers those who are too easily duped by the words of the wicked. This reminds us of how vital it is for us to "hear God's words" every day. I say this not to encourage us to try to hear God's audible voice - but to remember that He has given us the Word of God - which are His words. If we will take the time to get into the presence of the Lord each and every day - with the purpose of hearing God speak His Word to us as we read the Bible - we will find great deliverance through this. Note here that we read that this is the mouth of the "upright." This word is the Hebrew word "yashar" and it means to be straight, just, and right. It refers to an ethical standard - and that standard is found in God's Word. When we learn to speak the truth to ourselves and to others, we will also see that deliverance is provided as God works in us to remind us of the truth - to warn us of danger - and to call us to holiness of life. An interesting dichotomy is presented here for us. The wicked want our blood - God our deliverance. The godless have a plot against our lives by their decietful counsel and wicked words. The upright speak what will deliver us. May God give us wisdom to see these things for what they are - a warning to us to hear God's Word - not just once a week, but every day as we meet with the Lord. That they may keep you from an adulteress, From the foreigner who flatters with her words. Proverbs 7:5
We begin to grasp why wisdom and understanding need to be our sister and kinsman redeemer when we see the way that the adulteress seeks to capture men. The wise father here is offering very sage advice to his son - in an effort to rescue him from the snares of immoral women who would capture him with their wiles. Wisdom and understanding keep us from the adulteress. There is something we need to hear in our day - or any day for that matter. If a man does not walk in this world with his spirit open to the Holy Spirit - he will have the normal abnormalcy of walking in his flesh. I call this normal - because it is the state of all who come into this world. I call it abnormalcy because that was not how God originally made man - nor is it where God wants us to be. Too many men, young and old, walk blind to spiritual realities. This makes them sitting ducks for immorality and every other kind of vice common to mankind. It is only seeing things from God's perspective that will guard us from the adulteress. Thus we need to think in cooperation with the Holy Spirit who desires to give us wisdom and understanding - not with our desires and with our labido. We need to be guarded and protected . . . from ourselves. This "strange woman," which is what the Hebrew literally says, is a foreigner. This term may surprise you, but it has more to do with a "spiritual" foreigner than any kind of nationality issues. God warned Israel about the nations that surrounded her because their daughters would intermarry with Israel's sons. God's concern was that this situation would result in Israel's sons worshipping the false god's that these women worshipped. As a result, these sons would turn from the Lord and follow the false gods of the nations instead of the one true God, Jehovah. The adulteress has a secret weapon in her arsenal. It is one that God warns us of - and yet still hundreds and thousands of men fall for it every day. She "flatters" with her words. Men love for their egos to be stroked and pampered. They love it when a woman says nice things about them - compliments them - and tells them how wonderful they are. (As a man, I fear that this comes from the arrogant prideful thought within me that when they do - they are so right - because . . . well . . . because I just so incredibly awesome!) Oh, here is the danger, men! We want the ego strokes because of our pride. When a man has been married for a while - too often these ego-strokes begin to fade in the marriage due to men being doofusses and due to the natural progression of sin. (Just a note to wives . . . ladies, you cannot ever grasp how important it is for your husband to know you appreciate him - and that you still consider him your hero - and a warning as well is needed here. If you don't do this - or think its just dumb to say things like this cause you've been married 5, 10, 20, 30 years. I can promise you that at some point, some other woman may begin complimenting and flattering your husband. He is still responsible to be godly, be pure, and be faithful. But that task becomes all the more difficult - when he receives no encouragement at home - no ego-strokes - no compliments. This makes it harder to resist when someone finally appreciates him. This is not meant to justify unfaithfulness - it just hopefully helps you see that your God-given task of being his helpmate (which includes encouragement and seeing him as your hero) will make it so much easier for him to see the smooth, flattery of the adulteress for what it is . . . a trap!) The adulteress uses flattery to trap a man. She uses compliments and smooth statements as bait for another woman's husband. The word for flattery means words that are smooth and slippery. What a picture of the deception and the lies that are at work here. She worships herself and her own desires - and she is working hard through her slippery, smooth comments to get this poor sap to join her in her worship. He can worship himself and enter into her worship of herself through an illicit relationship. She catches her prey by luring him in through the baited compliments she places into her trap. Wisdom and understanding are essential to delivering us from such things. God's viewpoint is simple men. Are you married? Do you presently have a wife? Then this is totally and completely out of bounds! If this is absolutely outside of God's will for you - then who could be behind such counsel and such temptation? We need to see these compliments for what they are. They are bait on a hook! If you nibble at the bait - a hook is going to tear through the flesh of your lip - possibly rip open your jaw - and no matter how hard you fight, you're going to be reeled in and mounted as a trophy on Satan's wall! My how that description just changed how we view the flattery and slippery speech of the adulteress! We went from being enamored with her beauty and the promise of ecstasy - to feeling sick at our stomachs at the thought of a hook tearing through our skin and the pain that it would yield. Good!! That is what wisdom and understanding are supposed to do. They are supposed to take the silly trappings off of the devil's lies - off of our flesh and its deceptive thoughts - and show us the horror of what truly lies ahead. This is why wisdom is to be our sister - and understanding our kinsman redeemer. They can take the most sensual, inviting situation and show it for what it is. It is going to be horrible! It is going to be bondage! It is going to be regretted in the end! May God give us grace to see these things - to wake up out of the stupor of our fleshly sleep - and see the truth before it is too late. The words of a man's mouth are deep waters; The fountain of wisdom is a bubbling brook. Proverbs 18:4
Deep waters . . . that is how the Bible describes the words of the mouths of men. They can be deep waters. You hear what they are saying - but do you fully understand what they really mean. The times where I thought I knew what someone was saying - and found out later I did not yet know as I should have known are more than I care to remember. This is why miscommunication happens so often. It is because many of us are very deep wells. We say something out loud - but the meaning of what we've said lays much deeper within us. To try to fully understand it we'd really have to take an expedition into the deep recesses of our minds and our souls. The fountain of wise is much different. It is a bubbling brook. God offers to us much wisdom in the Scriptures. Contrary to what some people say - the vast majority of this wisdom is easy to grasp. The Bible is not a hidden document that requires some kind of decoder to understand. It is plainly written and says very plain things in very plain language. There is a beautiful Scripture that helps us understand how God's Word comes to us as a bubbling brook. In John 7 Jesus said that if we thirsted and drank from Him, out of our innermost being would flow rivers of living water. Then we read that this is the ministry which the Holy Spirit would bring to our lives. Do you realize that God has given you a teacher, the Holy Spirit, who desires to be rivers of living water in your life? Do you realize that God wants to have His wisdom flow in rivers of living water from you - and within you? There is a fountain of wisdom the Lord wants to manifest in and through you - a bubbling brook of water that will refresh your soul and grant you wisdom when you need it during your day. Learn to turn to the Lord for that wisdom - for grace to deal with decisions and difficult situations in your life. It will not be like one drawing water from a deep well - but rather will be the Lord working by His Spirit - bubbling up the wisdom you need from the Scriptures - and giving you the guidance you need for each and every situation. James put it this way, "If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God and it will be given to him." Turn to God with all your questions and decisions - then trust Him to grant you that bubbling brook of wisdom as His Spirit brings His Word to your mind. A soothing tongue is a tree of life, But perversion in it crushes the spirit. Proverbs 15:4
How we speak to others can either offer them a healing balm or a crushing blow. As we've read in Proverbs, the tongue has amazing power as it speaks words. That is also the case here - where we once again have a choice to make - this time with the words that we speak. The first thing we read of here is that there is such a thing as a healing, soothing tongue. The word here means a tongue that offering healing, a remedy. It refers to a restorative cure, a renewal from an illness or sickness. More is learned when we see a comparison drawn up about this healing tongue. It is compared to a tree of life. There is an image that we see a lot in Scripture. The tree of life was in the garden of eden - it is also in heaven at the end of the age. What is most interesting is that the tree of life refers to Jesus Christ. In the truest way - He is the tree of life. So we have another interesting parallel. Those who use their tongue for healing - for the restorative cure are as a tree of life. Our tongues are to be used to spread the message of the gospel of Jesus Christ. When we do this - we are being a tree of life. THE tree of life is Jesus Christ - and when we share the life-giving, soul-healing message of the gospel - we too are being a tree of life. Remember that Jesus said that He was the light of the world - and He also called us to be the light of the world as we share the truth with others. Here we have the parallel - He is the tree of life and we can be a tree of life as well, sharing the gospel which is the only source to heal and remedy man's sin. There is another way that our tongues can be used though. We are told that when we have perversion in our tongues a different we see different results when we speak. Perversion refers to a distorted way of speaking - a deceitfulness which is said to come from a perversity, not just in how we speak, but in our very life and character. This fits the biblical description of the ungodly man - whose mouth speaks out of the abundance of what fills his heart. Perverse lifestyle equals a perverse mouth. The problem here is that when this man speaks - it crushes the spirit. The word for crush here is "seber" and it means to cause destruction and ruin. It means a fracture or a breach. When a man speaks in this perverse way - it is like a fracture in a leg or a breach in a dam. It causes great ruin in people's lives. Whereas the godly man's tongue brings a healing and a remedy - the perverse man's tongue only causes more damage in our already damaged world. Think of the number of times someone spoke perversely to you - and the destruction that such talk brings. Some might think it prudish to avoid such talk - but if you've watched the coarsening of our culture in the last 30 years - you know that such perverse speech only weakens our society. Even worse is the perversity of those who deceive with their perverted speech. Lies only bring destruction in the end - and the way that it crushes a spirit when the truth is learned is devastating. Thus, the perverse man crushes people's spirits. We've seen this several times in the book of Proverbs. The mouth and the tongue are very powerful things. The words we speak really do matter. As was said at the beginning of this meditation - those words truly can make or break a person's spirit. Be wise and use your tongue as a tree of life. Speak healing words to others and guard your tongue so that it is not loosed in talk that will crush the spirit of those who listen. The tongue of the wise makes knowledge acceptable, But the mouth of fools spouts folly. Proverbs 15:2
We come to another passage dealing with the abuse of the tongue - or the abuse of how we speak to others. It is an interesting fact that the Bible says much more about the abuse of the tongue than it does the abuse of alcohol or drugs. By saying this I am not condoning either of those two things, because they are very destructive. But I would venture to say that the abuse of the tongue and how it damages people every day dwarfs the evils of these other two things easily. And whereas we have many speaking of the evil of the other two things - very few are crusading for people to use their tongues to build others up rather than tear them down. The proverb instructs us that the tongue of the wise makes knowledge acceptable. What a loaded statement this is. Sometimes people reject the knowledge that is shared not because the knowledge itself is offensive - but because the way it is shared is offensive. There are also those who can share pretty offensive things - yet are received well because of the wisdom with which they share them. When we come to people with a know-it-all attitude or a holier-than-thou spirit they will reject anything we have to say. That is why wisdom not only gives us knowledge itself - but also will counsel us on how to share it. Two other proverbs come to mind to illustrate this. One says that more flies are caught with honey than with vinegar. This proverb tells us that if we come with a sweet spirit we will catch more people with what we say. No one that I know is interested in drinking a cup of vinegar. In a similar way people will not listen to us if our spirit is bitter like vinegar. The second proverb that instructs us is actually wisdom Solomon shares in Ecclesiastes. Solomon tells us that there is a time and a season for everything. Among these seasons is the time to speak and the time to be quiet. Sometimes the best wisdom for our knowledge we want to share is to wait for a more opportune moment. The second half of this proverb lets us know that the mouth of fools spout folly. Whereas the wise are wanting to know the most profitable way to share knowledge - the fool has no such concern. That is because the fool is too busy spouting out his folly. The word folly means perversity, foolishness, silliness, and moral deficiency. The Word comes from either a word that means to be thick-brained or stupid. Rather than sharing knowledge with others, the fool is speaking the silliness of his own thinking. He is morally deficient and thus his tongue is only uttering disgusting and perverse statements. Hang around him long enough and you will be as filled with stupid and senseless knowledge as he is. That is why over and over again we are counselled to leave the presence of a fool - and that is especially the case when he is running his mouth. It is much better to spend our time considering how best to share beneficial knowledge with others than in the company of folly-spouting fools. Like apples of gold in settings of silver Is a word spoken in right circumstances. Proverbs 25:11
There are certain people who know just what to say at the perfect moment. Something needs desperately to be said and they are the ones who usually say it. Whether you know it or not, it is wisdom that gives them the ability to say these kinds of things. Like apples of gold in settings of silver. Now there is something that is worth a little. You can imagine this artwork as not only being beautiful to the eye - but also of amazing wealth as well. It is the kind of thing one would hang on a wall as a decoration, but would also have listed as a very valuable asset too. This is equated to how very valuable a word spoken just at the right time is. This statement speaks of how appropriate words used just at the right moment in time can be invaluable to someone. We see Jesus doing this again and again in His life. When attacked by the Pharisees and Saducees with a question they think is unanswerable without incrimination, Jesus speaks the perfect word at the perfect time. This kind of ability and skill is a wonderful thing to have when counselling or when offering comfort to those who are hurting or have just lost a loved one. In order to be able to say these kinds of things we need to have an ear open in two directions. First, we need to have our ears open to God. He is the One who can give us the perfect thing to say - because He is the One who can see into every heart and know just what to say. Knowing and being able to communicate God's Word in one-on-one situations is such a blessing to those who receive it. But to know these kinds of statements, we must walk close to God. Second, we need to have our ears open to those around us. Far too many people are never able to speak these kinds of words, because they don't even know that others around them need to hear them. So preoccupied are they with their own trials and troubles - or honestly with their own desires - that they don't hear the hearts of those who are struggling and in desperate need of a word of encouragement and edification. James encourages us to be quick to hear and slow to speak. That kind of wisdom will allow us to hear others - to hear their hurts and their problems - so that we can apply the Word of God in a way that brings healing and grace to them. It will be then that we can offer these apples of gold in settings of silver to those around us who desperately need to hear more than just words - they need to hear the right words - the perfect words for their circumstances. |
Proverb a DayEach day, we'll take a look at a verse from the chapter of Proverbs for the day. Our hope is to gain wisdom each day - and from that wisdom - to have understanding to make godly decisions in the throes of everyday life. Thank you for visiting our website! Everything on this site is offered for free. If, however, you would like to make a donation to help pay for its continued presence on the internet, you can do that by clicking here. The only thing we ask is that you give first to the local church you attend. Thank you!
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