Words From the Heart

“The lips of the righteous know what is acceptable: but the mouth of the wicked speaketh frowardness.” (Pr 10:32 AV)

 

It could be the reason we don’t always say the right things is because our hearts are not right.  Before we explore this, however, we do want to clarify there may be other reasons we saw the wrong thing at the wrong time.  I spent nine years pastoring in Western Kentucky and the experience taught me a lot.  A lot of good things!  The number one thing living there taught me was proper communication.  Coming from the northeast, we are blunt, to the point, and often tactless.  We say what we mean and we mean what we say.  Hurting feelings is not a consideration.  That is ok as long as the culture to which we are sent understands this.  But when I lived in Kentucky, listening to people communicate was like listening to a finely tuned orchestra playing in perfect unity and complimenting one another’s contribution to the overall piece.  The best education I received was sitting in a group and keeping my own trap shut, listening to the great folks speak with one another. Never a cross word.  Never a wasted word.  Hardly a critical word.  Perfectly tactful and appropriate.  My forward speech was not so much due to my own personal righteousness or unrighteousness.  Rather, it was ignorance.  The same is true of a child or sheltered adult who does not have adequate interaction.  Saying the acceptable thing is a matter of experience and not necessarily righteousness.

Solomon’s words, however, are written to an adult child who has the capacity to learn and adapt.  His son would be king and unacceptable words could lead to hardship for a nation.  Knowing what to say and when to say it has large ramifications.  Rehoboam did not learn this lesson.  When asked to lessen the burden imposed by his father, Solomon, he listened to his younger friends and did the opposite.  This caused the nation to split in two.  Rehoboam’s pride got the better of him.  He spoke roughly and assertively to a nation that wanted to follow.  The result was forward speech coming forth from his mouth because of the sin of arrogance.  He should have listened to his father’s counselors.  They knew the situation best.  They had life experience.  They had their finger on the pulse of a nation that served a king who didn’t always follow God.  The speech of the king came from a heart that was not right with God.  At least in that instance.  And that is what we want to ponder.

Living in the South, one has to be well aware of the condition of the heart when speaking to another.  I learned a lot about myself.  Much of which no one but God and myself knew.  I learned a lot about what I thought and why I thought it.  Many times I confessed to the LORD my heart was not perfect concerning a matter and He used my experiences there to change me.  For the better!  I wouldn’t trade those nine years for anything in the world.  The Holy Spirit matured me in ways that would not have happened any other way.  It was the college of hard knocks and the school of experience I needed at the time.  Most of all, I learned the condition of the heart in every little thing does affect the words you use to converse with another.  There was one time an inspector came and was relaying the experience he had while living in California.  He mentioned how much he hated it and there was no better place to live than western Kentucky.  As far as he was concerned, the rest of the world was cursed and God was only in Kentucky.  If I hadn’t learned some lessons along the way, I might have found offense in that statement.  But I didn’t.  Why?  Humility.  There is no better place to be than in the center of God’s will.  Period.  My response was that I was glad he had a place he could call home and hoped that he would never have to leave again.  Acceptable words.  It's all in the heart.