PROFITING FROM PROVERBS

“For my mouth shall speak truth; and wickedness is an abomination to my lips. All the words of my mouth are in righteousness; there is nothing froward or perverse in them” (Proverbs 8:7-8 KJV).

This should immediately put us in mind of Job: “There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job; and that man was perfect and upright, and one that feared God, and eschewed evil . . . But he said unto her, Thou speakest as one of the foolish women speaketh. What? shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil? In all this did not Job sin with his lips” (Job 1:1, 2:10 KJV).

Job eschewed evil. Lester Roloff said that if he had anything that wasn’t supposed to be in his mouth, he spit it out.

“wickedness is an abomination to my lips,” that’s a pretty honorable mouth, those are lips that are dedicated to the Lord.

“All the words of my mouth are in righteousness,” I don’t believe we can apply this to any single believer walking on this earth—it can only be speaking of one person. This means that all their words are right, they are from the right motive, they have the right perspective. Solomon has talked about things that wisdom speaks, or Christ speaks, or God speaks. Notice in verse 6, “I will speak of excellent things,” so you can count on the fact that God, Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit, and the Bible will always speak “excellent things,” and remember that from vs. 6-36, this whole passage is speaking about Jesus Christ as the very presence of wisdom.

Why would someone want to spend all of their time in front of a TV, or a magazine, or a radio, or a newspaper that can’t possibly speak “excellent things?” Folks in this computer age like to talk about “garbage in, garbage out.” If you fill your heart and mind with the things of God, what do you think is going to come out? About all you are going to get from the world’s media are “bad news.”

Yet, our Bibles lay on the shelfs speaking “excellent things, and the opening of my lips shall be right things.” But unfortunately, their owners are not listening. Speaking things that are right, not wrong. You can trust them, you can count on them, you can bank on them, and you can benefit from them in times of trouble, times of despair, and times of decision. Why would we want anything else? They are right—they are excellent.

“For my mouth shall speak truth; and wickedness is an abomination to my lips,” Jesus will never lie to you. “In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began” (Titus 1:2 KJV). The Holy Spirit will never lead you in the wrong direction. Then He says, “there is nothing froward or perverse in them.”

Of course, the Bible is God’s inspired Word and we can trust it just as much as God speaking, in fact, we can trust it even more. I know that is a heavy load on a biblical scholar that is trusting more in his own brain, but Peter said: “We have also a more sure word of prophecy . . .” (II Peter 1:19 KJV). Surer than what, Peter? God speaking from heaven in verse 17. That is to say, the Bible we have that were written by holy men of God are more sure than God speaking from heaven. How can that be? Because, not only did God say it, but He wrote it, and now you have two immutable truths. Not only what He said, but also what He wrote down. In the mouth of two witnesses, everything shall be established.

The Word of God is more sure than a voice from heaven. You know, the Devil might speak to you, he’s up there, according to chapter one of Job. Don’t be deceived. You’ve got the Book!

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