Walk of Life – Day 30 – November, 2020 – Thoughts from the Book of Proverbs.
Proverbs 30:32 “If thou hast done foolishly in lifting up thyself, or if thou hast thought evil, lay thine hand upon thy mouth.”
There was a young boy who joined as a student in a professional course. He showed great enthusiasm in sharing what he learnt in the course with people whom he knew. Slowly, the boy started showing off his knowledge on a particular subject in front of people who knew nothing about the course. Even when it was not required, he used big terms just to show how much knowledge he has. This kept going on and one fine day people started mocking him. They called him a fool. His intention was to be called a wise man but ended up as a foolish person.
We commit this mistake without our knowledge many a times, and sometimes we intentionally do it. We speak aloud and use high terminology near people whom we already know that they are less educated than us. We want them to look at us with awe. This does not work all the time. People get fed up and lose their interest in listening further to us.
Sometimes, we find it difficult to stay quiet when we know a little about a topic being discussed. We always want to contribute. It is not wrong but sometimes it can go wrong. Whenever we feel to contribute our thoughts we need to examine if our words benefit others or do they trouble them. Our main aim should be to glorify God always. Yes, even in our words, we need to glorify God.
Why do we seek to be glorified through our speech? How can we identify and correct ourselves? What happens when we continue to glorify ourselves?
The answer to these questions is given in the verse above Proverbs 30:32. We read in Matthew 12:34 that out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. When our hearts are filled fill with evil thoughts of self-glorification, we tend to speak out pride. The haughty words from our mouth are fueled by the haughty thoughts that we nurture in our mind. We do it when we look down on people and feel we are superior to others.
We can easily identify the pride-filled words coming out of our mouth. The first sign is when our nature changes from person to person while we talk to them. When we consider someone inferior to us, we talk aloud and a lot. At the same time when we consider someone superior to us, we talk less and in a very low tone.
Our speech should always be gracious, seasoned with salt (Colossians 4:6). It should be the same with all people irrespective of their status. When we submit our hearts to the Lord Jesus, He will fill our hearts with goodness. We generally hear people pray,” Lord, help me speak with people.” I feel that we ought to also pray,” Lord, teach me when to shut my mouth.” If we had done this long back, do you not think that we would be free from most of the problems that we are going through today?
That one word which comes out of our anger and anxiety might ruin the peace that we had been experiencing for a very long time. So, always be careful of what you talk, and do not be hasty in your speech.
It is not possible to put a plaster to our mouth, but we can empty the evil thoughts from our heart by submitting it to the Lord who fills it with humility. The more you strive to appear wise, the more foolish you appear.
Prayer:
Dear Lord, I come into your presence seeking for your help. I bring my heart to you which is filled with pride out of which I speak the things I should not and have messed up my life. Lord, forgive me and make me perfect. Teach me when to speak and when to remain quiet. Help me to glorify you in all aspects of my life. In the precious name of my savior Lord Jesus Christ I submit this prayer, Amen.
