Proverbs 12:19 Commentary - Dr Peter Masters

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Proverbs 12:19

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We see a picture of people trading with each other, selling things to each other, hiring each other's services. And one thing is quite clear, that in these old time communities people got to know each other, and very well. If a man was a cheat, or his word could not be relied upon, and he sold you something, and it was short measure, or he hired you and did not pay you what he had agreed to pay, his reputation was badly damaged. Whereas the person who was fair, and right, and truthful, got a reputation for honesty, and it could be said rather grandly, that his reputation went on for ever; it even survived his death. You tell the truth, you enter into some transaction and you keep your word. Is it forgotten? Well the transaction may be forgotten, but the fact that you could be trusted will not be forgotten. And while the transaction is long in the past, twenty years ago maybe, you still have got a reputation for fair dealing, and words have that capacity. So it is not just about truthfulness here and honesty, it is that words have a capacity to do good for years and years.The lying tongue attempts to fabricate a false world which defies reality, but reality’s overwhelming power and pervasiveness will only permit it to remain for a brief moment. The lie is something that invites testing, but the test, when it comes, will eliminate it and it will be gone along with all that attaches to it. The lying tongue wants to convince the world that it is truth – for who deliberately believes a lie? – but there are too many points of inconsistency with the world around it for it to be established. Every word that we speak is noted by God, and in the judgment to come the tongue will be a primary factor in the sentence we receive. The lie may not even last for very long in this world, but certainly it will not survive the scrutiny of that day, nor can we unsay a single word.

Application

It is truth that God looks for and this may cost us. We may lose friends because we will not lie for them; we may lose promotion because we are not willing to cut corners; we may not be able to avoid punishment for offences because we must confess them; we may suffer persecution because we will not deny Christ. It is the tongue that is said to be judged because the tongue eagerly steps forward to represent the whole man. All that is false will pass away, for the lie is only possible now because of the temporary licence that God has given to the darkness. How will it endure in the presence of him who has eyes as a flame of fire? To lie is to prefer darkness to light, but that puts us on the side of God’s enemies. The liar has been altered by his lie and he cannot undo the damage. No one who loves a lie can be one of God’s children, for his children all have a love of truth in their hearts. Therefore they belong to the light and as God endures for all eternity, so their lips and their whole being will endure forever.

We want our words to count, for months and years to come, people to be grateful for them, not so much grateful to us, but for the truths that they taught them, the deep things and the benefits that they communicate. So yes, let us be humorous; there is nothing against that. Sometimes, quite effervescent speech is cheering, but let us remember that if that consumes us, and it can do, then we have lost the ministry of words to others.

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Proverbs 12:19 Commentary and Bible Study