Proverbs 4:20 My son, attend to my words; incline thine ear unto my sayings
“Let him speak for himself.” Sometimes we say such things, but the truth is that no one speaks for themselves. I’m not saying you don’t have a will or a mind or things you like or dislike. I’m simply saying there is nothing new under the sun and most of us are speaking from another source more often than we realize. All of us know the experience of hearing a child say something precocious, strange, or funny and thinking, “Where did he get that?” Everyone knows exactly where the child got that. He got that from his dad or mom. We all rely on the experience or words of others. Proverbs 4 is all about whose experiences you accept, whose wisdom you listen to, and whether you are going to follow truth or falsehood.
Proverbs 4 begins by a father telling his son, “Listen to my words. I was my father’s son. I experienced things. I listened to my dad, and now I am passing this on to you.” Then he talks about words and ways. They go together. In verse 5 he says, “Get wisdom, get understanding: forget it not; neither decline from the words of my mouth.” He is saying, “I’m giving you wisdom. Don’t reject the words of my mouth.”
He follows this up in verse 20 where he says, “My son, attend to my words; incline thine ear unto my sayings.” Verse 24 says, “Put away from thee a forward mouth, and perverse lips put far from thee.” The orthodox rendering of this is, “Hey, don’t say bad things.” That is probably true. I don’t understand the construction of Hebrew grammar, but it seems to me he is not talking about putting your own lips far from you. Can you do that? Put your lips far from your face? How could you do that? He is saying, “Listen to my words. Don’t listen to forward words.” Whether that is the rendering or not, we will come to the truth in a moment and it is consistent with either rendering.
What about words that lead to ways? Verse 11 says, “I have taught thee in the way of wisdom; I have led thee in right paths.” Again, verse 19 says, “The way of the wicked is as darkness: they know not at what they stumble.” Those who are listening to the truth and accept wisdom are like the dawning of the day. They receive more and more light as they go. In contrast, “The way of the wicked is darkness: they know not at what they stumble.” They don’t know where they are.
Verses 25-27 say, “Let thine eyes look right on, and let thine eyelids look straight before thee. Ponder the path of thy feet, and let all thy ways be established. Turn not to the right hand nor to the left.” He is saying, “Listen to me; don’t listen to falsehood. Follow my way, the right path.” When he talks about the eye and the path, he is specifically talking about what comes from you. In any event, what comes out of your life depends upon who is speaking into it. All of us are speaking for other people we don’t even source all the time.
Froward lips, don’t hear them and don’t have them. Why do we say this? In the first place, everyone you hear is speaking from a primary source. Now there are those who popularize the primary sources, but they are just quoting them. Take John Wayne the actor. He might say, “Saddle up” or “That’ll be the day.” I hate to burst your bubble, but John Wayne didn’t originate those things. Someone wrote them at a Hollywood studio and John Wayne spoke them. I’m not downing John Wayne, but I’m saying that he was speaking from a source. I once heard a good man say, “Teamwork make the dreamwork,” and he attributed that to Dr. So and So. I happen to know Dr. So and So got that from John Maxwell, and he probably got it from someone else. This is not wrong or bad. Originality is the art of concealing your sources, and it recently occurred to me that that is not hard for me because I don’t even know who all my sources are. I can’t remember.
My point is that everyone you hear is speaking from a primary source. So, consider your words. Put far from you a forward mouth, whether it is your mouth or the mouth you are hearing, and follow the wisdom that God has given to you. Consider your words and ponder your path. That is the whole point. For whom are you speaking? What are you allowing to come into your ears? Whom are you allowing to speaking into your life? What are you living based on what you are accepting? Those are important questions because what comes out of your life depends on who is speaking into it.