Are your Words Thoughtful, Timely, and True? (Proverbs 15:1-4)

Prov. 15:1-4 "A soft answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger" (1). Words are gifts of God, given only to man in all of creation. Words used wisely are thoughtful, timely, and true. We should speak the right thing (true) in the right way (thoughtful) at the right time (timely). But if we don't, we invite wrath (1), express our stupidity (2), discourage others (4), even promote evil (28), especially through gossip (Prov. 16:28; 18:8) and slander. When we acknowledge his divine omniscience and guard our heart in the fear of God, God will give us wisdom to use our words to honor God and bless people.

Prov. 15:3 "The eyes of the Lord are in every place, keeping watch on the evil and the good." That God sees and knows everything about everything and everyone is called divine omniscience. To a believer, it is most encouraging that God sees and knows me. When I am hurt and wounded, there is no greater comfort in all the world than to know that God sees and knows my frail, fragile, wounded heart. But to an unbeliever it is upsetting, dreadful and infuriating that God knows all the goings on in their heart, and that they can never hide from God.

Prov. 15:22 "Plans fail for lack of counsel, but with many advisers they succeed" (NIV). Proverbs repeatedly encourages us to take advice (Prov. 13:10), listen to advice (Prov. 12:15), and to have many advisors (Prov. 11:14). If we just humble ourselves and learn to listen, we'd be a whole lot wiser. But we fail to listen, and so remain unwise (Prov. 21), when we find it too humbling to listen to advice.

Wisdom is Found in Those Who Take Advice (Proverbs 13:10)

Some topics covered in Proverbs 13 include:

• teacheability (1),
• mouth/speech control (2,3),
• listening to/taking advice...again (10),
• being influenced (20),
• disciplining children (24).

13:20 Education by Friendship (Walk with the Wise--Become Wise). The simple lesson is that we become like those whose company we keep. This is the power of association to shape character, for regular companions inevitably influence each other, for good or ill. Thus, Christians are encouraged to "not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing" (Hebrews 10:25).

13:1 Are you teacheable? Teaching and instruction--beginning from a child's father at home--produces a wise child (1a). Refusing this or lacking this often results in a mocker or a scorner, who is a fool in the last stages of folly (26:12).

13:2,3 How hard it is for anyone to guard thier lips; how easy to speak rashly, bringing ruin (3; 10:14; 18:7). Thus, fools who ruin themselves abound, while one of the clearest marks of wisdom is the ability to control the tongue.

13:4 Unfulfilled craving, or full satisfaction? The difference between laziness and diligence.

13:7 Don't take a man at his own valuation. Things are not always as they seem.

13:10 In Proverbs, wisdom is repeatedly correlated with those who take advice (13:10), those who listens to advice (12:15), and those who have many advisors (11:14). The proud, lacking wisdom, produce quarrels, strive and divisions (10a). How proud is our hard heart that instinctively and spontaneously rejects advice, and become foolish!

13:13 The importance of respecting and revering words and commands.

13:24 When a child is lovingly disciplined (to drive out folly and rebellion), they grow up loving their parents. When a child is not disciplined for fear of hurting them, they "hate" their parents! By witholding discipline, we are inadvertently producing a generation of adults who routinely ship their aging parents off to nursing homes!

A Wise Man Listens to Advice (Proverbs 12:15)

12:1,2 Stupidity and wisdom, pride and humility. The way to be stupid is to is to be proud (2a), and to think of oneself as above criticism (1b). To heed instruction (10:17) and correction reflects humility and leads to wisdom (2).

12:4 It's incredible how much "an excellent wife" (ESV), "a wife of noble character" (NIV) establishes the honor and joy of her husband (Proverbs 31:11,12,23).

12:10-12 The righteous is kind to animals (10), works hard (11), and bears fruit (12). No one can be truly kind (10), without knowing himself to be a recipient of mercy. In this modern age, how easily do we chase and follow "worthless pursuits" (11) and become pointless and senseless, thus squandering away our life.

12:15 One who is "right in his own eyes" sees no need to seek instruction or counsel from others, and unwilling to listen to correction. Such a man--one who thinks he is never wrong and who always thinks he knows best--is a fool (15a; 26:12). Why? Because no one is immune to self-deception (16:2; 21:2; Jeremiah 17:9). When we learn to listen to others, listen to reason, and honestly test ourselves for prejudice and bias, God gives us wisdom (15b; 11:14; 15:22).

12:23 "A prudent man conceals knowledge" (ESV); "a prudent man keeps his knowledge to himself" (NIV). Why? Not out of selfishness, but so that he does not parade or brag of his knowledge and experience. Unlike the fool who blurts out his opinionated folly for all to hear (23b), the wise person is the model of restraint and humility. Wisdom knows when it is right to keep silent and when to speak.

12:24 Diligence or laziness (slothfulness) reveals a simple principle of life that determines whether or not you will rule, or be a slave of someone else (24), or even whether you will be rich or poor (27). One who is diligent is intentional and directed toward a determined course of life, while the lazy inclines toward ease and comfort and becames a slave of the system and a slave of people.