An ungodly man digs up evil, and it is on his lips like a burning fire. A perverse man sows strife, and a whisperer separates the best of friends.
(Proverbs 16:27-28).
Most of the words that flow out of one’s mouth are not neutral; they either edify or tear down others. Many of us grew up as children hearing or saying these words: “Sticks and stones can break my bones, but words can never hurt me.” But if you have been on the receiving end of a sharp tongue, you know that words do indeed hurt. Words often bring heartache that’s harder to heal than a broken bone or a pulled muscle. If you were given ten cents for every kind word you spoke, and paid five cents for every unkind word spoken, would you be rich or poor? If you were paid according to your words, what would your bank account reflect? Colossians 4:6, “Let your speech always be with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought to answer each one.”
Notice in our text that an ungodly man digs up evil, spreads evil reports, sows strife, and works to separate the best of friends, and it’s obvious that he does so by gossip, slander, and backbiting. He does this because his heart is perverse. He is a man who is dead in trespasses and sins, a hater of God, and therefore he does not care whom he destroys with his words. But his problem isn’t really his tongue; his problem is his heart. His tongue wags wildly because his heart is enslaved to Satan and sin (2 Tim. 2:25-26). By walking in perversity and wickedness, gossip and slander, he is simply behaving according to his true nature. Proverbs 15:28 teaches that “The heart of the righteous studies how to answer, but the mouth of the wicked pours forth evil.” The righteous individual, the one who is redeemed by Jesus Christ, strives to be careful with his mouth. In other words, he thinks about what to say, how to say it, and when to say it. Proverbs 25:11, “A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in settings of silver.” This is not to imply, however, that the Christian is perfect in his speech. He is not (James 3:2). He may stumble many times with his words, but when he does sin and speaks an unkind, unloving, or thoughtless word, he repents and asks forgiveness from the Lord and the person whom he wounded with his words. Not so the perverse man. He simply flings words out of his mouth like a catapult because he doesn’t care whom he wounds with his words. “Evil is on his lips like a burning fire” (Proverbs 16:27). “The tongue of the wise uses knowledge rightly, but the mouth of fools pours forth foolishness” (Proverbs 15:2). Apart from simple factual statements our words are not neutral; they either encourage or discourage others. “Anxiety in the heart of man causes depression, but a good word makes it glad” (Proverbs 12:25).
A story is told of a man who slandered another. Upon discovering what he said was untrue, he went to his pastor for help. The pastor told him to take a bag of feathers and place one feather on each doorstep of the community, and this he did. He then returned to the pastor, announcing that he had completed the task. But the pastor sternly ordered him to take his bag and go pick up every one of those feathers he had dropped. But the man replied, “By this time, the wind has blown those feathers away and they are irrecoverable.” And then the pastor reminded him that “words are like feathers; once they’re dropped, and that easily, it is impossible to get them back.” Proverbs 10:20, “The tongue of the righteous is choice silver; the heart of the wicked is worth little.” Proverbs 15:2, “The tongue of the wise uses knowledge rightly, but the mouth of fools pours forth foolishness.”
As believers, we are called to follow Christ, who spoke like no other man spoke. On one occasion the Pharisees and the chief priests sent officers to arrest Jesus, but “The officers answered, ‘No man ever spoke like this Man!’” (John 7:46). No prophet, apostle, or other human being has ever spoken the truth with as much power, grace, and beauty as Jesus. We need to listen to His words, sit at His feet, and learn how to speak with heavenly wisdom. “So all bore witness to Him and marveled at the gracious words which proceeded out of His mouth” (Luke 4:22).
Words are like a two-edged sword; they can be used for good or evil. You decide how your words are used. Remember this thought. There is no such thing as a meaningless word. Every word you speak has the power to help or hinder, encourage or discourage, another person who has been created as God’s image bearer. James teaches us how we so often use our tongue, “With it we bless our God and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in the similitude of God. Out of the same mouth proceed blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not to be so” (James 3:8-9). Do not allow your words to become a stumbling block to others. Do not use your words to curse God’s image bearers. Use your words to edify, encourage, and uplift because it brings glory to God and good to others. Psalm 37:30, “The mouth of the righteous speaks wisdom, and his tongue talks of justice.” Proverbs 10:20, “The tongue of the righteous is choice silver.” Proverbs 10:31, “The mouth of the righteous brings forth wisdom.” Proverbs 12:18, “There is one who speaks like the piercings of a sword, but the tongue of the wise promotes health.” Proverbs 10:18, “Whoever hides hatred has lying lips, and whoever spreads slander is a fool.”
James brings the matter of the tongue to a close when he writes, “If anyone among you thinks he is religious, and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this one’s religion is useless” (James 1:26). Because of our propensity to sin with our tongue, the words of David in Psalm 39:1 ought to be the daily prayer of the redeemed of the Lord. “I said, ‘I will guard my ways, that I may not sin with my tongue; I will guard my mouth with a muzzle, so long as the wicked are in my presence.’”
Rev. Scott Henry
Hope Reformed Church
Sutton, NE