Ten Minute Bible Talks Devotional Bible Study - Wise Words | The Writings | Proverbs 10

Episode Date: October 1, 2024

How are you using your words? To encourage or insult? To build up or tear down? In today's episode, Tanya looks at Proverbs 10, showing us the power in our words. Read the Bible with us in 2024! This year, we’re tackling a group of Old Testament books traditionally known as “The Writings”— Psalms, Chronicles, Proverbs, Daniel, Ruth and more! Download your reading plan now. Your support makes TMBT possible. Ten Minute Bible Talks is a crowd-funded project. Join the TMBTeam to reach more people with the Bible. Give now. Like this content? Make sure to leave us a rating and share it so that others can find it, too. Use #asktmbt to connect with us, ask questions, and suggest topics. We'd love to hear from you! To learn more, visit our website and follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter @TenMinuteBibleTalks. Don't forget to subscribe to the TMBT Newsletter here. Passages: Proverbs 10

Welcome to 10-minute Bible Talks, where we connect the Bible to your life in the time it takes to get to work. I'm Tanya Wilmuth. I know several people who have one habit they do every single day, never missing because of travel and never skipping for a busy schedule. Some of them wake up and do this first before getting out of bed, or some do it religiously every night before they go to bed. A couple of the girls I run with in the early dark morning actually wake up even earlier to do it because they have it done before they can. come to run at 5.30 a.m. What do you think I'm talking about? Prayer? Well, that would be a good thing to never, ever miss. Coffee? That's definitely something we build our lives around. No, I'm talking about wordal. You know, the six chances to get the word for the day. How did a word guessing game

become a daily priority? Words. Words have power. Words make us feel powerful. Words can also completely destroy us. Our words are so important that they're the most discussed topic outside of wisdom in the book of Proverbs. There are more verses dedicated to our tongues and our speech and our use of words than anything else. It's such an important topic because speech can make or break us. Words have the power to wound and the power to heal. We need wisdom so we can assess which direction our words are taking us and do something about it. Proverbs 10 is one of the places where several verses are lumped together that talk about the foolish way to use words and the wise way to use words. Most of our speech is not neutral.

When we look closely at these verses, we might actually feel despairing as we examine the way we're using our words. We might want to change, but that can be hard, especially when our words reflect what's really going on inside us. Proverbs 10 verses 18 to 21. The one who conceals hatred has lying lips. And to ever utter slander is a fool. When words are many, transcripts.

is not lacking. But whoever restrains his lips is prudent. The tongue of the righteous is choice silver. The heart of the wicked is of little worth. The lips of the righteous feed many. But fools die for lack of sense. The continuous theme of Proverbs is that we are growing either in wisdom or in foolishness, and the way we use our words is a litmus test of how that's going for us. Wounding words are a sign that we have a wound inside that needs attention. So what are wounding words. Well, according to these verses, wounding words come in many forms. Concealing the truth, lying, flattering, and slandering are the ones specifically mentioned here. You might say, well, I conceal the truth so I don't wound someone. It's better not to say anything at all than

to say something hurtful. But the proverb says that one who conceals their hatred has lying lips. And this is really eye-opening, because it means more than just think before you speak. We need to think about what's making us want to speak. I came face to face with this reality when I said to some of my friends after spouting off, I didn't mean it that way. It came out wrong. What I'm really saying is that I lost control over my ability to lie about what I was really thinking for a second. I didn't mean to say out loud exactly what I was thinking and feeling inside. I mean, this proverb just goes right for the jugular. We need more than wise words. We need a heart that wants to tell the truth instead of quickly resorting to lying

or that can tell the truth about what's really happening inside. When the truth needs to be spoken, Proverbs 2515 says it should be spoken gently. With gentleness, a ruler may be persuaded and a soft tongue will break a bone. Gentle speech is kind and truthful. It asks, how does the person wants to be told? And it asks this because it genuinely loves the person.

Now, my husband says as often when the rest of us, are struggling with how to have a conversation with a roommate or a friend. He says, how would you want them to tell you? Well, honestly, kindly, I'd want them to tell me directly. This is also how we should communicate, not concealing our passive aggressive anger under the surface and waiting for them to notice we're boiling over, not hoping they'll figure it out with our silent treatment, but gently, truthfully, directly. Notice that the proverb says, speech will break a bone. It doesn't skirt the truth but walks directly into it. It gives the person a chance to confront reality without fear that we're going to walk away and treat them badly. It's saying

something difficult but feeling absolute pain about saying it because you empathize and you actually love the person. The opposite of gentle words that tell the truth is flattery. The proverb says the heart of the wicked is of little worth. Flattery has no value because it's a compliment meant to manipulate or win favor with someone. It's a way of luring someone into an alliance built on lies. One of the ultimate examples of flattery we see in the New Testament is when Jesus is in the wilderness and Satan tries to lure him into a trusting relationship or an alliance, completely built on lies. When we dole out compliments or overpraise someone to make them like us or trust us, we're in cahoots with Satan. And that's hard to hear but true. Tim Keller calls flattery hate speech

with a more subtle delivery. Another form of hate speech is slander. The proverb says, whoever utters slander is a fool. Slander is the result of a deep dislike. But I think we'd be surprised about where the dislike originates. See, when it comes out, it sounds like we dislike the person we're slandering.

But slander is really an attempt to deflect some deep dislike we have about ourselves onto someone else, to draw the attention away from us and are disappointment with ourselves and onto someone else and their disappointing behavior. We're talking down about people in public as if we would never do the things they're doing, but really we're masking what we hate about ourselves. Slander damages image bears and destroys relationships.

But it reveals more about the hatred and foolishness in the heart of the speaker. Now, the point of this Proverbs is that when we are confronted with these uncomfortable truths, we have a choice to be uncomfortable. and feel yucky as we work through it, or we can avoid the discomfort and move forward without accepting any constructive feedback. One is the path of wisdom and one is the path of foolishness. I don't know about you, but I feel super convicted and uncomfortable, especially with the part about flattery. I feel like an expert when it comes to crafting and using words to get people to like me or do what I want them to do. Just being totally honest. So what do I need? What do you

need to help you when you confront the way you use words? And are you willing to sit in the discomfort of it? We need words. Words are life. They're the life blood of a relationship. We can't just say, I'm just not going to talk. I'm just going to sit this out while I get better. We can't just tuck words away while we work on them. We need better help than that. Have you ever noticed that you start to sound like the people you talk to? I mean, hang out with a person from Oxford for a while and you'll start saying things like, as it were. Spend some time with my family from the Ozarks and you'll start calling your Coke a sody pop. Spend some time talking to God. And my guess is you'll start sounding, well, more like your Heavenly Father. The true hope for our words is the word. The word of life,

the word that became flesh, the word that wants a relationship with us. Maybe it's because my church is in the middle of a focused time on prayer right now, but I'm in desperate need of a better prayer life, and I also know that prayer has saved my life. It's a real but mysterious relationship where God prepares my heart, reaches into my heart, connects with my heart, restores my heart, to neglect prayer is to neglect all the love and power that comes from a thriving relationship with my Heavenly Father. There is nothing that reveals my need for prayer more than a close evaluation of speech. If I want to sound like God, or sound like I'm godly, without being in communication with God, I will be a flattering slanderer. I will be a fool.

Where do you see a problem with your words? What do you want God to do in you to heal your words? To give you words that heal others instead of tearing them down. Lord, I need help with my words. They reveal what's really going on in my heart and I can see that there's jealousy, strife, and insecurity. I ask that you will fill me with your love so that my heart can be mended with the truth. I ask that you fill me with wisdom so my mind can focus on the truth. I ask that you heal me from the inside with your promises so my words reveal you. Amen.