Proverbs 12:14 A man shall be satisfied with good by the fruit of his mouth: and the recompense of a man’s hands shall be rendered unto him.
Do you think you could control the emotions of a crowd of people in a room if you had twenty-five seconds in which to do it? This might be easy if I said, “Here is a crowded room of people. Can you make them all angry?” If you have pepper spray, you might be well on your way before someone takes you out. But, what if I didn’t tell you what emotion you were to create in those people until the actual moment. I might tell you that you had twenty-five seconds to make them angry, or joyful, or fearful, or disappointed, or curious. You would be hard pressed to do that unless you did it by what you said.
Proverbs 12-13 have quite a few verses about the lips, the tongue, the mouth, and about what we say. We have a choice. We can say that which is helpful, beneficial, and true, or we can do the exact opposite. For instance, Proverbs 12:14 says, “A man shall be satisfied with good by the fruit of his mouth: and the recompense of a man’s hands shall be rendered unto him.” So, both what we do and what we say are important. But usually what we say has a much quicker result than what we do.
The Bible tells us elsewhere in Proverbs that “death and life are in the power of the tongue.” If you look at these verses in Proverbs 12-13 about the tongue and the mouth, the conclusion you come to is that the mouth is neither the problem nor the solution, but it reveals where they are.
Proverbs 12:5 says, “The thoughts of the righteous are right: but the counsels of the wicked are deceit.” How does one counsel another? It is by what they say. Counsel in that verse is put in parallel to thoughts. So, thoughts and words are parallel. They go together.
If a person has a big mouth, the problem is not that he literally has a mouth that is too large. We are talking about what he says. A big mouth is an indication of little restraint. A wise person is an indication of a listening person.
Let me give you some unorthodox advice this morning, something you might take as a challenge: listen more today. But, I want to encourage you to listen to someone you probably would not expect. Let me preface my unique challenge by reading several proverbs.
Proverbs 12:16 says, “A fool’s wrath is presently known.” How is his wrath known? It is known by what he says. Proverbs 12:23 says, “A prudent man concealeth knowledge: but the heart of fools proclaimeth foolishness.” How does a fool proclaim that he is foolish? He does it by what he says. Proverbs 13:16 says, “Every prudent man dealeth with knowledge: but a fool layeth open his folly.” How does he do that? It is by what he says.
I think we should all listen more, but perhaps we should begin by listening to ourselves. I think a lot of people are self-absorbed, but I think we are not all that self-aware. A lot of times I don’t even know what I am saying, and whatever it is that is coming out of my mouth is coming out of a reservoir of what I am thinking, what I am choosing.
So, it might be a good exercise today to listen to yourself first. A man that is always angry in speech is probably angry. A man that is always confusing in his speech is probably confused. If a man is always deceitful in speech, his problem is not his words but his heart. So the mouth is not the problem; it is not the solution, but the mouth does tell us where they might be found.