The Multitude of Words

Proverbs 10:19-21 In the multitude of words sin is not lacking, But he who restrains his lips is wise. The tongue of the righteous is choice silver; The heart of the wicked is worth little. The lips of the righteous feed many, but fools die for lack of wisdom.

Sin is found when too much is said. Sometimes we speak just to be heard, to be part of a conversation. We often say more than we need to because we enjoy the fact that someone is listening. We like the fact that we are getting attention. We need to learn to speak to the point and nothing more. The problem with a multitude of words is that it seems so easy to sin when there are so many words being spoken. We need to be careful of idle chatter that easily leads to gossip and backbiting. Many times what begins by discussing a problem ends up in a gripe session. When that happens we need to look to see if there is another problem which is a critical heart, but that is hard to see and many times even harder to confess.
He who restrains his lips is wise the writer says. We are wise even though others may not think that we are. It is often our own words that get us into trouble. If we restrain our tongue from saying wrong things then what people will hear most of the time will be right (wise) things. That way we become wise, not so much by what we do say but by what we don’t say.
The “silver tongue” of the righteous is not a derogatory term meaning that it is slick or just coated with silver but that it is truly valuable. People come to value what is said by those that live and speak with righteousness. What is said is not “so much chatter or rhetoric but it has purpose and helpful. The heart of the wicked only brings out things that are of little or no spiritual value. They may say all the right things but the discerning people around them can see that they are just so much words. The wicked heart has nothing but bitterness and criticism, hatred and strife and the bible says that out of the abundance of the heart speaks. If a heart is wicked it will not speak things that bring light, life or unity, instead it will speak things that have nothing of value in the kingdom of God. A critical heart speaks critical things.
What we want are lips that will feed many. We need lips that will speak things of value to the kingdom and edification to those that hear them. If our heart is good and we get our wisdom from God and seek the leading of the Holy Spirit then all our words be a beauty to others and a glory to God.
We need to consciously restrain our lips from speaking things that have no value and we will not only edify others but bring life and nourishment to them as well. We want to make our words such so that they are the source of life. Filling our heart with the Word of God and truly living it can accomplish all of this. Our wisdom and or words must come from God, our life validates what we say.

Oh God, cleanse our hearts from criticism, bitterness and strife. Please replace it with grace, humility and love so that our words would feed, heal and edify.