Read Proverbs 16:20–24
Questions from the Scripture text: Who will find good (v20a)? Who will be happy (v20b)? Who will be called prudent (v21a)? What increases learning (v21b)? What is a wellspring of life (v22a)? To whom? How do fools think of their correction (v22b)? What teaches the mouth of the wise (v23a)? What else does his heart do (v23b)? What are like honeycomb (v24a)? What do they give the soul and the bones (v24b)?
What do wise words do? Proverbs 16:20–24 looks forward to the midweek sermon. In these five verses of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that wise words supply joy and health to the hearer.
Godly speech is referred to explicitly in every verse of this section, except v22. Godly speech is the theme of the section.
Scripture in, sweetness out, v20–21. v16–19 introduced this section by describing the heart from which godly speech comes. Now, in the section on godly speech itself, we hear the mechanism by which such a heart is produced. Before someone can be a purveyor of the Word (v21b), he must first be a procurer of the Word. We will not be a good speaker to others until we have been a good listener to God.
If we wish for others to call us prudent (v21a), because they have enjoyed the sweetness of the wisdom that proceeds from our hearts to our lips (v21b), then we must first heed the Word in order to find that good (v20a). Of course the object of this listening is not just anyone’s Word; the object of this listening is YHWH’s Word. We listen to Him, because we find ourselves happy in trusting Him (v20b). And from out of our own happiness in Him, proceeds the sweetness from our lips as our speech to others is according to His Word.
Healthy heart, healthy speech, v22–23. What does the man of understanding think of that understanding? He finds that His understanding is not a static reservoir but an active stream that continual supplies his life. How very opposite the fool is, whose own folly becomes a rod of correction that falls upon his back. v23 elaborates that the life that the wise draw from the wellspring of understanding is not only for themselves. They learn how to employ that wisdom on the mouth and the lips for the benefit of others.
Healthy speech, healthy hearer, v24. This little section draws to a close by describing how the speech of the wise makes their health infectious. The sweetness of v21b is not “empty calories” but nutritious, like honeycomb (v24a), prospering those who receive and heed it in body and soul. It is the privilege of the wise to be instruments of such joy and health for others.
How healthy is your appetite for wise words? How healthful are the words that you listen to?
Sample prayer: Lord, thank You for granting unto us to be benefited by wise words and to benefit others with words. Grant that by Your Spirit, we would be made like Your Son, Jesus, we ask in His Name, AMEN!
Suggested Songs: ARP14 “Within His Heart the Fool Speaks” or TPH400 “Gracious Spirit, Dwell with Me”
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