Proverbs 10:17-19 – Listening and Speaking
If we want to know how to live, we have to be willing to listen to instruction, to pay attention to the discipline God sends us. If we shut our ears and our eyes to correction and determine to do what we think is right, we are turning our back on God and going down the road to destruction. And besides destroying our own lives, we are destroying our witness as Christians and confusing and misleading others. We need the discipline of God to keep us right.
Verse 18 describes a principle we see throughout the Bible. From Cain to Saul to Judas there are plenty of examples of men and women who hide their hatred with lying lips. There are also examples of those who slander others. God calls these people fools. Why? Often they seem to get away with it – they are the ones everyone believes, and they usually get something out of it. But they are fools because God sees what they are doing, and one day their lies will be stripped away and the truth laid bare.
But before we are too quick to chalk these two sins off our list, we need to examine our hearts to see if they are there. Are you always sincere when you are speaking to people you don’t really like? For the sake of politeness, do you often say things that aren’t even true? Do you really mean what you say? Or do you claim to care a lot for someone you really don’t even like? Do you never make fun of them, cause them to look stupid or wrong, tell your guesses as though they were fact, or try to make yourself look better by telling of mistakes they have made? So, what’s the answer? How can we avoid these sins? The key is in verse 19. Choose your words, think before you speak, hold your tongue.
Questions
- How do people hide their hatred?
- What is slander?
- How can we avoid sinning in what we say?
Prayer Points
- Pray that we would speak wisely and well.
- Use prayer points from your congregation.
- Pray for family matters.