What Did You Say?
Blog post by Bro. David Voorhees
(Proverbs 1:1-6)
The proverbs of Solomon the son of David, king of Israel;
2 To know wisdom and instruction; to perceive the words of understanding;
3 To receive the instruction of wisdom, justice, and judgment, and equity;
4 To give subtilty to the simple, to the young man knowledge and discretion.
5 A wise man will hear, and will increase learning; and a man of understanding shall attain unto wise counsels:
6 To understand a proverb, and the interpretation; the words of the wise, and their dark sayings.
Have you gotten in your own way? Have you ever done something that was not helpful to you? Have you ever said something at the wrong time to the wrong people and made yourself or someone else feel bad, look bad, or uncomfortable?
If the truth were to be told, we would probably have to say yes. Why do we do things that are not good, say things that embarrass or simply show a lack of thinking? Because we lack three very important things, discretion, discernment, and discipline.
For the Christian, those three characteristics come only by the help of the Holy Spirit of God and this comes by the wisdom which God gives and the knowledge that flows from His understanding.
These characteristics are found in His Word and are for all that would seek them, but then it falls on us to put them into practice.
(Proverbs 8:8-11)
8 All the words of my mouth are in righteousness; there is nothing froward or perverse in them. 9 They are all plain to him that understandeth, and right to them that find knowledge. 10 Receive my instruction, and not silver; and knowledge rather than choice gold. 11 For wisdom is better than rubies; and all the things that may be desired are not to be compared to it.
The Example of David is found in II Samuel 11:1-4
David did not exercise:
1) Discipline by adhering to the common practice of his day and being king.
2) Prudence, or knowledge prudence; that discernment that enables a person to judge critically of what is correct and proper, united with caution.
3) Circumspection in considering the situation in which he found himself.
4) Discernment, in finding himself unable to determine the difference between good and evil, thus he was incapable of making the right choice.
How we can avoid David’s pitfalls?
23 Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: 24 And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting. (Psalms 139:23-24)
If we fail to give obedience to the Word of God we too can fail as did David. If we stay as babes and only drink of the milk of the Word we hurt ourselves and those around us.
12 For when for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again which be the first principles of the oracles of God; and are become such as have need of milk, and not of strong meat. 13 For every one that useth milk is unskilful in the word of righteousness: for he is a babe. 14 But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil. (Hebrews 5:12-14)
Application for Today
We need to be careful of the words we use and how we say what we say, then couple that with what we want people to think of us by what we say. Don’t let your words and thoughtless actions ruin your testimony. Every thought that comes to our mind does not need to find its way to Facebook, Twitter or Instagram. Sometimes they shouldn’t even find a place in our minds, let alone be out for the whole world to read. Our words matter and we will give an account for them. Don’t let your words and thoughtless actions ruin your testimony. Be humble enough to ask God to give you the discretion and discernment to make the right choices and help you exercise the discipline to obey Him.
