Undisciplined Speech Brings Problems

“Whoso keepeth his mouth and his tongue keepeth his soul from troubles.” (Pr 21:23 AV)

 

What an appropriate verse for a preacher on a Sunday!  For someone who is called to a calling that requires verbal communication, this verse is especially important.  I have learned many things.  One of those things is when your calling or occupation requires public communication, the audience often hangs on every word and the gift of communication is essential.  To be able to express exactly what the LORD has laid on one’s heart without messing it up is a task larger than most can comprehend.  Every detail and every nuance of speech is examined under the most illuminating of microscopes and often the speaker finds himself in trouble because of a misspeak.  Perhaps he forgot context and made a statement, that in his own mind, was established in a certain context, yet because that context was never expounded, was taken differently by discerning ears.  Perhaps there was a certain level of familiarity with the topic at hand that was expected of the hearers which actually didn’t exist.  What the speaker says is understood differently than intended.  Or, perhaps a bias or cultural distinction is assumed that is not present.  There can be a misunderstanding.

Being a Yankee and serving in the south was a great education on communication for me.  I learned a lot.  But what I learned most was how much I didn’t know.  If you ever need to be taught in the art of communication, spend a decade or more in the classical south.  Listening will teach a world of discipline and the appropriateness of speech like no other experience.  Having said that, I can say this.  When I took that pastorate, I stressed my style of communication was vastly different than what they were used to.  For instance, when a Yankee says something, he means exactly what he says and no other.  He is not inferring anything.  What he says is the inference.  He is blunt and open.  When he is done, there need be no more words.  In the south, not so much.  This caused some trouble for me.  I often found myself needlessly offending my audience.  I had to learn to keep my mouth and tongue lest I cause trouble upon me.  And that I did quite frequently.  I remember saying that it wouldn’t take long before I unknowingly offended everyone.  Not on purpose, mind you.  Rather, because I lacked the right discipline to keep myself out of trouble.  The mouth and tongue are often the cause of our own troubles.  It isn’t someone else.  It is what we say.  Or don’t say.  We heap trouble upon ourselves and blame others when in reality it was the use of our own tongue that caused it.

The word ‘…keepeth…’ does not mean to keep the mouth closed.  Rather, the word means to build a hedge about; to guard; to protect, or to attend to.  In other words, Solomon is not instructing his son to be silent.  Rather, he is instructing his son to discipline the tongue so the words he speaks do not come back on him and cause him trouble.  Our emotional society believes to express oneself verbally is the answer to solving problems.  To blurt out what we think or how we feel on the impulse of emotion is totally acceptable.  It is like we are living in a sport’s stadium where we feel we can yell out anything that makes us feel better, be it good or bad.  Solomon is instructing us to do just the opposite.  Think of the hedge.  It is built to keep things both in and out.  There is space.  But the hedge is a barrier of discouragement.  Before I say anything, the words and thoughts which I intend to speak should be given the hedge of time to meditate upon the appropriateness of the words I am about to utter.  Do I really want them to go beyond the hedge where I no longer have control over them?  That is the question.  Do I really want my thoughts and feelings out there where others can consider them in the context of their own understanding and misunderstand what it was I was trying to say?  That hedge of time is a buffer that keeps me from the trouble that will most assuredly come if there is no discipline of speech.  We have trouble because we bring it upon ourselves.  I have trouble because I don’t stop and think about what I am about to say before I say it.

Limited View Requires God's Guidance

“Man’s goings are of the LORD; how can a man then understand his own way?” (Pr 20:24 AV)

 

The understanding of this verse is simply enough.  This verse speaks to the sovereign plan of God for our lives and His manner in working that plan out.  Specifically, this verse speaks to the future planning of a man and his struggle is trying to figure the choices of the present which will guarantee a planned future.  The assumption is we are a captain of our own destiny.  This is not true.  We are only as free as the LORD allows.  Our freedom is constrained within the binderies in which the LORD has placed us.  We do not have complete freedom to do as we dream or think.  The other side of this truth is the application we see above.  That is, we cannot understand completely our own way and need the guidance of the LORD to figure that out.

One of the greatest inventions is the GPS navigator.  When they first came out, I got myself one and navigated almost everywhere with it.  Over time, phones replaced the Garmins.  Google Maps or Waze became more reliable and up to date than the older GPS navigation stand-alone devices.  There is no subscription needed and real-time conditions can be had.  In Google maps, one can even overlay different maps like topographical maps or satellite images.  I have one son who loves to navigate that way.  He will go to street view and a satellite view.  Can’t figure that one out.  I need the map so I have much more time to prepare for a change of course.  My father-in-law likes to zoom way out.  He likes to see as much of the route as he can.  But he is a living compass.  He never gets lost and has a sixth sense of direction.  One thing about this technology is it can never give you a complete picture of the entire trip.  Waze gives details for which I am grateful.  A car on the shoulder, obstructions in my lane, or potholes coming up.  What it cannot do is tell me everything that will happen along my trip all at once.  It lacks information that might change.  Therefore, I may see a general direction in which I will travel, but my GPS is not all-knowing nor can it determine the conditions in which I will travel.  All it can do is offer information and suggestions for choices.

Conversely, our God is a God who knows the future right down to every detail.  He also has a plan for our lives right down to every choice.  We cannot understand the path of our lives much like we cannot anticipate every turn in the road.  Driving the hills of the Appalachians, Smokeys, or Blue Ridge, no matter how much we know ahead of time, each curve has with it new information which we didn’t have before.  We cannot completely and fully know our path because we have not gone that way before.  The point of the Proverb is to point out the obvious for the purpose of discipling the heart to trust God.  Faith is that practice which we are required to exercise for the pleasure of God.  It is that discipline which angels cannot enjoy.  Faith means we admit we don’t know what we don’t know and trust the LORD to guide us through life in the way He has determined for it to go.  The LORD knows what He is doing.  He has known from eternity.  What Solomon is saying to his son is, “you may think you know where you are going or what you will be doing, but it is all of the LORD.”  So, we better get used to the ride and stop thinking we determine the outcome far more than we do.  God is always in control and we need His hand in order to navigate through the hills and valley of life in the way which pleases Him most.

Get Up

“And the LORD said unto Joshua, Get thee up; wherefore liest thou thus upon thy face?” (Jos 7:10 AV)

This question from the LORD comes at the heels of Joshua’s prayer over a lost battle.  The men of Israel were told to go up to Ai and take it.  After sending spies, they counseled Joshua to send only a few thousand.  When the battle raged, Israel fled and thirty-six men lost their lives.  That is three from each tribe.  Among a nation of several million, this seems insignificant.  What Joshua was lamenting was not the loss of thirty-six men.  Rather, he was lamenting the fact Israel fled.  Joshua was afraid the other nations around them would hear Israel fled from such a small battle they would believe Israel to be cowards.  If all the nations banded together because they thought Israel cowards, then Israel would have a war on their hands they might not be able to win.  What Joshua did not know was the cause of the cowardice.  Achan, a man of the tribe of Judah, robbed God when Jericho was taken.  He kept back precious metals for himself rather than give them to God for the service of the tabernacle.  This was why Israel was cursed when they ascended to Ai.  It is the question posed to Joshua which we want to consider this morning.

This reminds me of a young person, perhaps a toddler, who is frustrated or carrying on because he believes he cannot do something that Mom or Dad knows he can.  We have wonderful grandchildren.  I had the privilege of getting to know little Jude recently.  He is a wonderful little young man with a genuine personable spirit.  He makes connections with people quickly.  My daughter-in-law sent a precious video the other day.  It was of little Jude trying to learn how to crawl.  Mom was on the other side of the room capturing this momentous occasion to share with her extended family.  Little Jude would not get up on his knees.  Jude belly-crawled with his hands, dragging his legs behind him.  One of those legs was tucked into the other.  Then he got up on one knee with the other still tucked under.  The poor child looked like a wounded soldier trying to crawl back to the line with an injured leg.  All the time he was crying a fussing.  How dare Mommy drop him on the floor and abandon him to crawl ten feet to her side!  He was fussing about something which he himself could solve.  He simply didn’t know it.  He learned all he had to do was to scoot.  He still hasn’t learned to get up on all fours.  I have a sneaking suspicion little Jude will learn to walk before he ever learns to crawl on all fours.

The question posed to Joshua was much the same.  Why are you carrying on about the cowardice of Israel when you should be finding out why it happened?  That is God’s point here.  Joshua responded in a purely emotional expression when he should have sought the LORD’s guidance as to why they could not take a town with a minimal force.  The LORD chastises Joshua, not for the act of praying, but for how he prayed.  There are times we go to the LORD and lay our heart out when the more prudent thing is to get up from prayer and figure it out.  We go to the LORD in emotional turmoil when all we had to do is stop, think it over, ask the LORD for enlightenment, and solve the issue.  We are expected to grow up.  That includes our prayer life.  It is one thing to pour out our hearts when we need to.  The LORD will not turn back that prayer.  But if, in the process, we offer nor expect and resolution, then pouring our hearts out is only an act of making ourselves feel better.  The LORD has broad shoulders.  That is for sure.  But He is not our personal destresser to be used for emotional comfort when fixing the problem would take care of it.  He is not our shrink who will listen to our emotional problems to send us out the door with nothing rectified.  This is using God instead of following God.  So, our out your heart. But do so with the intent of finding wisdom in overcoming, not with the intent of simply making ourselves feel better.

Stay In The House

“And it shall be, that whosoever shall go out of the doors of thy house into the street, his blood shall be upon his head, and we will be guiltless: and whosoever shall be with thee in the house, his blood shall be on our head, if any hand be upon him.” (Jos 2:19 AV)

 

Rahab and her family were given very specific instructions.  When Israel invaded Jericho, they were to remain within her house.  If anyone ventured out during the invasion, they were subject to death.  This would have been very difficult.  Rahab’s house was hard upon the wall.  As we know, when the army of Israel compassed the city of Jericho, on the seventh day, the walls came down.  That would mean the only structure hard upon the wall that stood was Rahab’s house.  I can only imagine what it would have been like held up in that house as one witnessed everything around you collapse and fall flat to the ground.  I would have been terrified.  Upon looking at the walls crumbling and the army invading, I might be tempted to sneak out some why and escape the calamity before my eyes.  Yet, as long as they stayed in the security of the house which God provided, they were safe.  No harm would come to them. 

I was watching the weather channel recently and they were broadcasting another special on tornados.  They seem to love tornados.  They were interviewing those who survived the storm.  I cannot remember which storm it was, but I do recall the one they were highlighting I knew well.  They showed footage of the town after it had been hit.  They told of an aged mother and father who were tragically lost to the storm.  The mother was sucked up into the vortex.  The father survived, but upon hearing the news his wife’s body had been found, died of a heart attack.  This same family had an adult son who owned and operated Mel’s Diner.  Yes, that is a real place.  He spoke of the total destruction of the restaurant.  It was very close to his parent's home.  This fella spoke of their plan to escape the storm’s ravage.  He, the employees, and the clientele all receded into the walk-in cooler.  Brilliant!  There isn’t a storm ever seen that can lift one of those units securely fastened to the structure off its anchor into the air.  A photo was shown of the aftermath of Mel’s Diner.  There was nothing left except for that walk-in cooler.  One can only imagine what it might have been like listening to the raging storm outside and the constant striking of debris on the walls of that cooler.  They must have felt like sitting ducks.  But staying put is what saved their lives no matter how much uncertainty was going on around them.  Keeping still in the safety of that cooler was the best plan.

We tend to escape situations that require a great deal of faith.  I learned a great lesson a few days back.  Those decisions that require great faith are often life-changing and self-defining.  Trusting God when the world around you seems to be out of control takes a great deal of faith.  With Rahab, it was a once-in-a-lifetime choice.  It wasn’t the type of choice that had to be made every day.  This was a big one!  This was a blind one!  She had her reasons.  She explained those reasons to the two spies.  They had heard what God and done to Egypt and knew God had given Israel the land.  That was the reason and logic behind her faith.  However, when the walls began to crumble and the house began to shake, she had to question the wisdom of remaining in the land, to begin with.  Knowing God would conquer the city, why not flee well in advance.  God told them to stay put and they would be fine.  This is the message for this morning.  Stay put and trust God.  It is always better in the center of God’s will than trying to solve our problems on our own.

Watch What Comes Up

“They sacrificed unto devils, not to God; to gods whom they knew not, to new gods that came newly up, whom your fathers feared not.” (De 32:17 AV)

 

Moses is rehearsing in the ears of Israel their propensity to follow after false gods.  The devils and gods whom they knew not are the ones they learned of while captive in Egypt.  The ten plagues of Egypt were ten plagues designed to attack the false gods which Egypt and Israel followed.  Once God proved Himself the only one and true God, Israel abandoned the gods of Egypt.  At least for a while.  While in the wilderness, Israel once again took up a false god.  While Moses was forty days and nights on the mountain with God, Aaron and the people fashioned a golden calf to which they offered sacrifice.  The golden calf was not a new one.  This calf was a carryover from Egypt.  God dealt with them harshly over this.  One would think if a nation saw the hand of God in Egypt and then paid the price for idolatry, they would abandon any future worship of idols.  But they did not.  The book of Judges shows us just how habitually the children of Israel went after gods.  Many of them were new.

One of the frustrations of life I had to get over is the idea of perfect circumstances after problem-solving.  For instance, when I worked at the factory, one would think one could get to a level where basics didn’t have to be re-taught.  We could fill our shift with trained workers and we would never again have to hire new ones and start all over.  Or, working with equipment, you would think that once all the problems were solved, you could run a full eight hours without any stoppage.  If we fixed a temperature problem, then it was solved.  If we fixed a trimming problem, done.  If we addressed a waste disposal issue, that was over.  We would hope that if we had problems, we would have them early and over with.  But working at the factory is like life.  When you whack a mole, another will pop up in its place.  This is life.  At the factory, the worst was having a change over from running one product to another with enough time to get the line back up running just before your shift ending.  If there was a changeover, your hope was either earlier in the day, or about an hour before the end of your shift.  Otherwise, it is a lot of work when quitting time is rolling around.  But new problems arise.  They have to be solved.  They have to be conquered.  Then production resumes.

Israel is a picture of the saint as they come to salvation and grow within.  We have this misunderstanding when we come to salvation, all the monsters will be slain.  We think overcoming very obvious and dramatic sin will mean complete victory to our home-going.  Not so.  The old man is still with us.  He is still vibrant.  He is still there.  We have to contend with it.  We often think that at salvation, we have overcome the worst of the worst.  Again, not so.  My mentor told our early discipleship class the real battle over sin had just begun.  We may have gotten rid of the cursing, bad music, and evil choices, but he warned those were the easy ones.  And he was right.  We didn’t realize then what I know now.  When we gain victory over one god, another is waiting in the wings to take its place.  We cannot rest on our laurels.  We need to be ever diligent to overcome whatever gods may pop up.  Like whack-a-mole, there will be new ones which we need to take the hammer of the word of God to and knock them back in the ground where they belong.  Not until our home-going will we be totally free of all temptations.  Until then, watch and pray lest you fall into temptation.

A Praise

“The highway of the upright is to depart from evil: he that keepeth his way preserveth his soul.” (Pr 16:17 AV)

 

“There is a way that seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.” (Pr 16:25 AV)

 

Just a brief testimony and opportunity to praise the LORD.  Today, we sit in the great state of Tennessee.  We are visiting my son and his family.  The LORD just blessed him with a wonderful church as his first senior Pastorate.  What a blessing to see what the LORD has done with him and how the LORD will no doubt use him in the future.  The grandkids were great!  Titus turned five and is the perfect young man.  Jude is a smiling machine.  He loves the attention of men more than women so he took a shinning to his Pawpa.  All this wonderful family time did, however, have a dark cloud looming over.  We traveled at the absolute worst time of the year.  February usually has with it severe weather.  And this was no exception.  We traveled during a one-in-a-lifetime series of storms.  We were delayed by a day getting there and while we were there, an ice and snowstorm blanketed the south.  We had to travel back the day after the storm because another was arriving in the same area the next day.  If we do not get out today, we may be stuck in Tennessee for at least another week.

There were two ways home.  I could either go west through Tennessee and up through Kentucky and Illinois.  My thinking was if I headed directly west, I would spend less time in storm-affected areas.  If I went north, I had to pass over Daniel Boone National Forrest.  At the end of that park is a four-mile-long hill.  This is where the ice hit.  My thinking again told me this was unsafe.  I didn’t relish a four-mile free fall.  Not knowing the condition of I40 through Tennessee and never having driven it before was another consideration.  It was far more rural and if we had an accident, it was highly unlikely emergency personnel could get to us quickly.  So, I was in a quandary.  The wise thing seemed to be to go west and get around the storm-affected areas.  So, I decided to pray and seek God's wisdom.  This is where the two verses above become relative.

The first told me the highway, or the higher way is the way the righteous go.  I took this to mean God wanted me to go through the mountains of the Daniel Boone Forrest.  I fought that a bit until the Spirit spoke to me in the second verse.  If I choose to follow my wisdom and go west, then there was death waiting for me.  Don’t need to tell me anymore.  I began to watch google maps for accidents and closers.  It appeared I75 through the Forrest was getting shut down.  At least north of it.  I began to doubt the Spirit’s leading.  We left the hotel and went to say goodbye to the kids.  When I looked again, I75 was clear.  To make a long story short, I obeyed the LORD and we sailed through all the way home at the speed limit.  There were no accidents and no delays.  PRAISE THE LORD.  It pays to listen to and obey the LORD!  One never knows what disasters can be avoided by listening and following.

Self-loathing And The Pit of Ignorance

“He that refuseth instruction despiseth his own soul: but he that heareth reproof getteth understanding.” (Pr 15:32 AV)

 

There are several ways to look that that first phrase above.  We could look at the truth that despising instruction is an act of self-loathing.  Or, as we will this morning, a person who rejects instruction may have at the root a self-loathing problem.  A person with a self-loathing issue sees more value in self-destructive behavior than they do self-sustaining behavior.  They see more advantage in destroying what they hate; that is themselves; than they do in protecting what they hate.  You read that right.  The problem is not our opinion of ourselves.  We should have a low opinion of ourselves.  There is a difference between having a really low opinion of ourselves and self-loathing.  When we see ourselves for what we truly are, we see the lack of value we bring to God and others.  However, we do understand that with Christ as our Savior and the work of the Holy Spirit, there is value in the life God has graciously given.  Self-loathing sees no value and the pride of heart believes it is the responsibility of self to destroy self that in some way, that destruction might have value.  The soul that refuses instruction is purposely trying to destroy self for the purpose of some kind of assessment of anything of any worth.

Volunteering in the health industry, I have come across many patients who give up hope.  They do not see any value in their lives even if there is plenty.  Their health care professionals encourage them to stick to whatever regimen is suggested for an improved quality of life.  Perhaps they have family or friends worth living for.  Maybe they have responsibilities in the community, church, or circle of influence which would sorely miss them if they passed away.  Yet, they cannot see any value in their present circumstances.  My job as a chaplain was to help them see what they could not see.  To give them a reason to undergo suggested treatment.  My job was to help them see that every life, no matter the circumstances, has value.  This is a difficult task given circumstances that others think are impossible.  It is at this point the patient will begin a self-evaluation and determine if their life has any value.  If they think it does not, regardless of the truth of the matter, they will refuse instruction.  They hate the circumstances of their lives.  There were also those patients who were addicted to drugs.  This is a curse and a scourge on our land!  The trap that an addict goes down is a never-ending spiral of pleasure, guilt, self-loathing, and ending in pleasure to cover it all.  He or she feels guilty and ashamed, but the answer too often is not forgiveness and freedom.  It is more of the same.

The Spirit spoke to me this morning and asked me to consider if some of our behavior isn’t so much as natural human frailty to go after sin.  But rather, the idea that we know we are worthless outside of Christ and because of that, we see no point in trying.  We see far too much of our failures and not enough of the Spirit’s work on our lives.  We only see condemnation and hardly see commendation.  We condemn ourselves more than we praise God for what He has done.  Because of that, we refuse further instruction thinking there is no point.  This is a dangerous path.  This is a path that only ends one way.  It ends in the self-fulfilling prophecy of worthlessness and despair.  The cure is to remember we are the workmanship of God in Christ Jesus and He doesn’t make junk!  He had redeemed us and His work will continue far into eternity.  It would be better if we didn’t work against Him in that which He is trying to accomplish and start the process of praising God for all that He has done.