MORE WORDS, GOOD WORDS
Proverbs 16:23-24 NKJV
23 The heart of the wise teaches his mouth,
And adds learning to his lips.
24 Pleasant words are like a honeycomb,
Sweetness to the soul and health to the bones.
It’s interesting when we consider the amount of Proverbs that are devoted to our words. Mouth, lips, and tongue are not referring to facial anatomy but rather what comes out of the mouth, lips, and tongue. Today’s verses offer more insight into the importance of the words we speak.
“The heart of the wise teaches his mouth, And adds learning to his lips.” The more we learn to live by this proverb, the better our life will be. I can’t speak for you, but as for me, the majority of problems in my early years of marriage were a result of not allowing my heart to teach my mouth. Slowing down enough to allow your heart to add learning to your lips is a lifesaver and absolutely a marriage enhancer. This is not the response of most people—especially those of us who tend to be more verbose. With us talkers, it’s shoot from the lip and deal with the consequences later. But there is no wisdom in that. There’s heartbreak in that philosophy, but God’s wisdom offers a different strategy. When we slow down enough to check with our heart, our words tend to be tempered with wisdom and not nearly as rash.
I worked with a good sales manager years ago. He was a fiery guy with a good heart. The book on him was to wait for his second response because his first reaction and response was not wise. He was a believer who was a blessing in my life, but he was typically not a follower of Proverbs 16:23.
The second of our verses about words speaks to the value of pleasant words. Pleasant can be translated as beautiful and also as agreeable. The NLT says, “Kind words are like honey…” So, there is some sweetness in pleasant words. Not harsh words or angry words. These words are good to our inner man. And these words are considered healthy. To grasp the health concept, we have to remind ourselves that words are not just words. Words are seeds. With our words, we plant health and life, words that lift our souls. And we can plant harsh words that produce sorrow and anger and work against us.
Most of us have read or heard of experiments where people speak loving, kind words to plants or harsh, angry, destructive words. The plants respond to the goodness or harshness of the words. We are wise to agree with God that our words are more powerful than we have given them credit for. Think of the fact that the world we are living in was created with words, God’s words. So, it should not surprise us that His creation responds to words. And when we speak God’s words, or words that are in line with Scripture, there is power.
Let’s learn to allow our hearts to teach our mouths. And if we are putting God’s words into our hearts, then what will come out are pleasant, life-giving words that bring sweetness and health to ourselves and those who hear us.