January 17

Written by Bill Grandi on January 17th, 2019

The 17th chapter of Proverbs (which I read this morning) is an interesting chapter. Lots of references to speech.

Verse 1: “Better is a dry morsel with quiet than a house full of feasting with strife.”

Verse 4: “An evildoer listens to wicked lips, and a liar gives ear to a mischievous tongue.”

Verse 9: “Whoever covers an offense seeks love, but he who repeats a matter separated close friends.”

Verses 27-28: “Whoever restrains his words has knowledge, and he who has a cool spirit is a man of understanding. Even a fool who keeps silent is considered wise; when he closes his lips, he is deemed intelligent.”

There are several others as well. I chose the ones which really caught my pen. 🙂 It is verse 9 though that I highlighted in my reading this morning. I’m not alone in this, I know, but how many times have I spread something, that if I had kept quiet, would have died…but didn’t? I don’t think the writer is speaking of justifying someone’s sin; I do believe he was speaking to not passing it along.

I guess the question I need to ask is “Why would I want to?” What kind of sadistic pleasure do I get when/if I pass along what someone else has done? An even more important question is “What good does it do?” I mean, seriously, what good does it do to pass along someone’s dirty laundry?

Answer: N.O.N.E. Nothing good comes out of it. Note to self: Keep. your. mouth. shut!!

“Father, speech is a betrayer. A seemingly upright person can be and is betrayed by his/her speech. Lives are ruined; reputations destroyed; futures derailed all because of wayward speech. Help me to weigh my words; keep my mouth shut. if I have nothing good to say. Help me to be an encourager not a destroyer.”

 

7 Comments so far ↓

  1. Ryan S. says:

    The wisdom that comes from Proverbs is astounding. How much better would my life be if I would apply that wisdom.

    How about a social media platform that applied the wisdom of Proverbs as its rules of engagement? Something to ponder…

    Thanks for the Wisdom today Bill, will do me well.

    • Bill Grandi says:

      I agree about the wisdom of Proverbs. And what a difference the social media thing would be if we applied that wisdom. Nothing like it is today.

  2. This brings to mind the countless times my mother admonished me: “If you don’t have anything nice to say about someone, don’t say anything at all.” Good advice from her and from Solomon!
    Blessings, Bill!

  3. Glynn says:

    If Proverbs provided the rules for the culture, we would have no Facebook or Twitter; all of the network programs featuring talking heads would disappear; and newspaper editorial pages (and a lot of what passes for news pages) would have to be published blank. That’s just for starters. The timeless wisdom of Proverbs contrasts sharply with what passes for wisdom in our culture.

  4. floyd samons says:

    My mouth has gotten me into some tough places. It takes time, but God has a way of teaching us wisdom.
    In all the grace and forgiveness I’ve been granted, I now tend to seek forgiveness for others instead of the justice we all deserve.