Posted on 02/17/2020 6:02:20 AM PST by Pilgrim's Progress
“He that hath a froward heart findeth no good: and he that hath a perverse tongue falleth into mischief” (Proverbs 17:20).
“He that hath a forward heart,” a perverse, crooked heart like that spoken of by Jesus in Matthew: “For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies” (Matthew 15:19).
“He that hath a froward heart findeth no good,” it doesn’t matter how hard he looks, or how far he seeks, if the heart isn’t right you are not going to find anything but bad.
God hates this bitter fountain, which sprays venom from a poisoned well. Such a man will fall into mischief. He will be troubled, for God and men will oppose him. Any friends he has are not true friends, for they are only there for what they can get. They are certainly not there for the pleasure and peace of his corrupt and cutting tongue. He wonders why bad things happen to him, but he cannot admit his speech is corrupt.
Aaron and Miriam criticized Moses for his Ethiopian wife, so God made Miriam white with leprosy (Numbers 12:1-15). Korah and princes of Israel disrespectfully said to Moses, “Ye take too much upon you, seeing all the congregation are holy.” Meek Moses was furious, and God swallowed them and their families alive by the earth (Numbers 16:1-34)!
The truth of the matter is that a froward heart produces a perverse tongue. It is nigh impossible to have one without the other, because out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. Therefore, an evil heart will bring corrupt speech, which brings the double curse of this proverb. Keep thy heart with all diligence.
“. . . and he that hath a perverse tongue falleth into mischief,” like that tongue in James 3 that sets everything on the fires of hell. Now, sometimes a man’s tongue will cause the speaker to fall into mischief, and it will be the will of God. James says, “My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into divers temptations” (James 1:2). You start to witness to others, like the recent problems where soulwinners spoke to Muslims in cities in America that lean towards Muslim Sharia laws. The Muslims picked up stones and threw them at the witnesses. In some cases, the soulwinners were arrested. Just because a man has a good clean tongue and he is living for God doesn’t mean that he isn’t going to fall into mischief from Satan’s crowd.
One of the things we can count on in life is trouble. We are going to have some trouble whether we live right, or we live wrong. We are not going to escape some form of trouble no matter where we live in this world. Trouble follows you, and you are born into it. Job said, “I was not in safety, neither had I rest, neither was I quiet; yet trouble came” (Job 3:26). In other words, if you think it is bad now, wait a bit—it’ll probably get worse. All this, and then more trouble on top of it—that’s life.
You can’t really escape trouble, so the best thing to do is to live right with the assurance that no matter what may come we will be rewarded for living right.
Daily Bible study is necessary if we are going to begin our day with the right attitude and the right spiritual diet. Proverbs has 31 chapters, and most months have 31 days, so let’s read a chapter of Proverbs a day and see what God might have for us. As the Lord leads, share with us what God has shown you in a special way and by His grace let us build up a devotional repository. Let’s keep our knives and forks handy for some daily bread! Ideally, a chapter or two of Proverbs will fit in nicely with a good plan of reading our Bibles through each year.
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Beautiful proverb, and so true.
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