“Whoso keepeth his mouth and his tongue keeps his soul from trouble.”
I was perusing the book of Proverbs and came across this verse. I moved on from it, but I found myself coming back to it several times and reading it over and over again. I thought to myself, “Where has this verse been all of my life?” I know that I have read it at least one-hundred times over the years, and it somehow escaped my attention. Well, it didn’t escape my attention today. Those of you who know me, know that “keeping my mouth and tongue” has not always been my forte – so to speak. In fact, one of the best lessons that I have learned over the last few years is that it is best to keep my mouth shut most of the time. I think that what I have learned, or will always be in the process of learning, is that most of the time it is best to keep my mouth shut instead of stating my opinion or arguing, whichever might happen to be the case at the time. I have learned, or am learning, the lesson of this text: If I will keep my mouth shut and my tongue still, I will save myself a lot of trouble. Let me share two things that came to mind when I meditated on this text. If we will keep our mouths shut until it is wise to open them, we will not embarrass ourselves by what we say. I guess that some of the hardest moments in my life, reaching back over the years since at least my teen years (waaaayyyy back), have been when I have embarrassed myself by what I said. There have been times when I have wanted to clap my hands over the mouths of other people because they were embarrassing themselves by what they were saying. If we will keep our mouths shut until it is wise to open them, we will not embarrass ourselves by what we say. You have probably heard the saying: “It is better to keep your mouth shut and be thought a fool than it is to open it and remove all doubt.” (Or something like that.) I have particularly learned this in my church work. There have been times when I have spoken without having all of the information that I needed and have had to apologize. (I’m referring more to deacon’s meetings, business meetings and making church announcements, for example, than to my preaching from the Bible.) Learn the lesson of when to speak and when not to speak. If we will keep our mouths shut until it is wise to open them, we will not say things that will hurt other people. Think back over your life and think about how many times you have said things to people that were hurtful that you wished you could reel back into your mouth. Of course, this is impossible. A word once spoken cannot be recalled. There is an old saying that “sticks and stones may break my bones but words can never hurt me.” This might be true to a certain extent, but it is not altogether true. Words cannot break your bones but they can break your heart, and demean you. Perhaps, we would be wise to think about what we say to someone, and ask whether or not we would want the same said to us. I’ve known people who referred to themselves as “plain spoken” and spoke their minds regardless of who it hurt. One thing that I have noticed about these people is that it is not wise to be “plain spoken” with them. These are usually the people that you have to watch what you say to them or they will take offence. We need to learn to refrain from saying things that will be hurtful to people. There is so much more that I could write about what I have learned about keeping our mouths shut, but I have to remember that I am writing a blog and not a book. Maybe you need to learn the lesson of this text: “Whoever keeps his mouth shut and his tongue still keeps himself, or herself, out of trouble.” (This is the Beauchamp "translation.") You can fill in the blanks of what I have not written about the wisdom of keeping our mouths shut. Bro. Joe
2 Comments
Margaret M Jones
2/12/2016 09:20:36 am
Excellent advice!
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Missy
2/12/2016 10:13:16 am
Mr. Joe
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AuthorDr. Joe Beauchamp is the author of this blog and website. Categories
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