Postings on Proverbs...13:3

"Whoever guards his mouth preserves his life; he who opens wide his lips comes to ruin" (ESV)

Who? Wise vs. Fool
What? Preserves his life vs. Comes to Ruin
Why? Guards his mouth vs. Opens wide his lips

How does the world tell you to get wisdom? Make mistakes. Experience everything. Take chances. Live and learn along the way.

How does God tell you to get wisdom? Read Proverbs. Study it. Memorize it. Learn and live.

That's one of the reasons I'm doing this blog, so that I, now in my 30s, can take God seriously when He says "Study Proverbs to get the skills you need to live a good life" (see Proverbs 3:1-10)

I needed this proverb when I was a kid (not that I would've listened). My mouth always got me in trouble, but even writing that makes it sound like I'm disconnected from my mouth, when our mouths never say anything that's not already in our hearts.

The word translated "open wide" is only used one other time in the Old Testament: "At the head of every street you built your lofty place and made your beauty an abomination, offering yourself to any passerby and multiplying your whoring" (Ezekiel 16:25). The words "offering yourself" is the word, which more literally translated is "spreading your legs wide open."

So, like a prostitute who opens her legs to anyone who offers himself to her, so the fool opens his mouth to any thought that offers itself to him. His lips are unrestrained, uncontrolled, unbridled, undisciplined, which will often bring him discipline, ruin, disaster, violence and pain.

 However, we "enjoy good," not just when we say good things (13:2), but also when we keep ourselves from saying things that can ruin us. Our mouths can keep us, our families, our jobs, our lives safe and happy.

No one sets out to ruin their lives. We all want good lives, but few take the time to think through how to get there. The how question involves skill, and that's what Proverbs is for, giving us, as I see it, this piece of mouth-wisdom: recognize the influence your mouth has on the outcome of your life.

So, let's pray along with David, "Set a guard, O Lord, over my mouth; keep watch over the door of my lips" (Psalm 141:3), and remember "But for the blood of Christ, the mass of guilt from the sins of the tongue would have condemned us for ever; and in proportion as the [tongue] is bridled, 'the peace of God rules in the heart'" (Bridges 151).