Proverbs 10:14 Commentary - Dr Peter Masters

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Proverbs 10:14

Comments

Both parts of the proverb are about speech. Of course, only valuable things are gathered and stored. The picture is of the wise living in the East in ancient times, and how they lay up the harvest and they know how to store the right things, so that when the long winter comes they shall feed their family. They know how to store things that are good against difficult future years, and things that can be turned into revenue, things that are valuable, and precious. Whereas the foolish person lives on the edge of destruction all the time. The foolish person has not harvested, has not stored and processed the food stuffs. He barely has enough to get through, if it is a long hard winter. You say, that person is on the edge of destruction, and so it is with speech. How can we become the kind of people who know how to speak, who know how to talk with family, friends, neighbours. Know how to say wise things and deep things at the right times.Here is a wise man who studies situations in life and what needs to be said in different circumstances. He does not use everything that he comes across immediately, but notes carefully the words of the wise and those who use their tongue to bring peace, light, comfort, and faithful warning. It is his desire to speak edifying words and to use his tongue for good, so he enrols on the study of wisdom. He knows this cannot be done without preparation, for wisdom is not learned in an hour or a day, but is the product of a life time of meditation on the truth of Scripture. Before we can use our tongues to do good to others, we first have to spend much time gathering wisdom into our own hearts. But the foolish live on the edge of destruction. They depend on their native wit to come to the rescue in every situation they encounter, but they set no great value on wisdom. Native wit is however no substitute for real wisdom, and therefore since life is generously spread with pitfalls which only wisdom can deliver us from, they live close to destruction. They overestimate what they can cope with and do know the value of the wisdom which comes from God alone.

Application

When I was in the services, still a teenager, and posted away at a particular place, there was a middle aged Christian couple who used to be very hospitable. They would take believers off the base, and look after them at their home. Well, there was one evening and quite a group of us were round at the house of this couple, and unfortunately the husband met with an accident. It turned out not to be a very serious accident, but nobody knew at the time. There was a telephone call from someone to say he would not be making it; he had been taken off to hospital. Now the poor lady was a good earnest believer, but she was obviously under considerable strain over a number of things in her life, and to the astonishment of all of us, she went completely to pieces. She threw, really, quite a fit, and as youngsters we were all, dumbfounded, and did not know what to say. This was totally shocking, and yet of course, we were sympathetic, so we stood there completely nonplussed. Then one person in our midst suddenly took the whole situation in hand, and the rest of us just gaped. He seemed to know exactly what to say, and I think he was the youngest of us, as it happened. He knew just how to pour oil on troubled waters; he knew just the right words. We were staggered, and of course, we looked to this chap with amazing respect. But of course, as it became apparent from his own words to us later on, it was because he had had an example. He had seen this happen in his own circumstances, several times over. He had seen how some other mature believer handled such a situation, and he knew what kind of words to say, what kind of approach to use.

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Proverbs 10:14 Commentary and Bible Study