Proverbs 15:28, Words Are Worth Weighing!

October 4, Proverbs 15:28

Jas. 1:1-12 “Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that need not be ashamed” (2 Tm. 2:15).

Words Are Worth Weighing!

When it comes to words, the one studies, while the other just spews! Bring 15:2 and 28 together. Notice how wisdom and righteous agree! “Consideration is an important part of the Christian character; nowhere more important than in the discipline of the tongue” (Bridges). “Tongues seldom ache through lying still.”

1. Where Less is More for the heart of the righteous studieth to answer. The word study includes the need to meditate or muse as we find in the Psalms (63:6). “Think before you speak” is wise advice, if only we would heed it more! The person who thinks before speaking will likely say less, but what he says will count for more. “Rhetoric is not a bad word. It is really a lost art” (Alden). Peter admonishes the believer to be ready always to give an answer to every man that asks you a reason for the hope that is in you with meekness and fear (1 Pet. 3:15). Notice, however, that Peter prefaced that admonition with, but Sanctify the Lord God in your hearts! The righteous considers, studies, before he speaks. Only those who sanctify the Lord in their hearts in much prayer for the wisdom that is profitable to direct (Eccl. 10:10) will give forth the words of life. Nehemiah prayed to the Lord while in the presence of the king of Persia, and God wonderfully answered that prayer (Neh. 2:4-5). Another part of the equation is motive. The person who studies his words must be righteous because he wants to say what is right and true. He must do good to those who hear him. He never misleads or knowingly sows error, for words, like time, can never be recalled. Like the Angel that spoke with Zechariah, the righteous man will speak good words and comfortable words (Zech. 1:13) to those who need them most.

2. Where More is Less because the mouth of the wicked poureth out evil things. When conscience is dead, what comes out of the mouth is mischief, words promoting error and evil. When the fountain is impure its stream is polluted. Be warned that not all studied speech is good. For their heart (evil) studieth destruction, and their lips talk of mischief (Pr. 24:2). We have just been reading the document “Evangelicals and Catholics Together,” written by a number of “leading evangelicals.” Its purpose is to promote union with Roman Catholicism. This is a very carefully crafted document. Every word is weighed, but to what end? It is meant to deceive the gullible, to allay any fears of the hesitant, and bulldoze the rest into unresisting submission. The scholars have spoken! We stand amazed, appalled, saddened that leading “evangelical scholars” could sign this deceptive document, and betray the Gospel for which so much martyr-blood has been shed. This is consummate wickedness that the mouth of the wicked poureth out. More is less when evangelicals come together on the basis of the Supremacy of Rome! “Rome,” they say, “was not built in a day,” but many seem bent on building it in our “night” of spiritual darkness! Yet, how few seem to care! While “Protestantism” weakens, Rome finds room to grow.

Thought: “Error no wider than a hair will lead a hundred miles away from the goal.”

Prayer: Lord, give me the heart and courage of the righteous.