Proverbs 26:24 Commentary - Dr Peter Masters

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Proverbs 26:24

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How great a part speech plays in causing strife! Scripture’s remedy for this is for us to become discerning and not to be taken in by what appears on the surface. In this case the surface is what a man actually says, for he does not say what he really means and what we need to know to judge his character accurately is what is in his heart. This is a much better indication of character than what comes from his lips. But how do we know what is in the heart when the lips disguise the real person? Only through studying God’s word and studying human nature, and seeing the tell-tale features of the true person within which inadvertently show themselves from time to time.This discernment goes so far as to be able to look right past words that seem to be gracious and kind and to see something very different in the heart. We may safely dismiss these as fabrications if we have also detected something far more sinister that lies in the heart of the speaker which has been revealed in some unspoken action which is a truer guide to the heart. In doing this we must be very honest with ourselves and be scrupulous not to be guided by prejudice or any of the other host of potential evil motives that are within our own fallen hearts. But the believer is called to see what is invisible, what is hidden in the heart of the hypocrite. The hypocrite is not an easy person to identify and the child is more likely to be taken in than the adult, but let us all become mature in being able to read character accurately. The ability to look past deceitful words is part of bringing all things into the light and will prevent the deceiver from doing his work of sowing strife.

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Does this mean that we cynically say that all men are liars, and trust no one? No. Cynicism is a shortcut to wisdom and true evaluation of character is more difficult than that. It requires us to know that there is such a thing as character and men have deep rooted patterns and habits of behaviour in their hearts. Out of the heart the mouth speaks and the mouth does not generate content from nowhere. Since the lips have nowhere else to draw from other that their own hearts then obviously the water that is drawn up from the well is the water that lay down in the well to begin with. If that water appears fresh and clean and we know the well contains impurity, then we are right to be suspicious. A man once said to me that every word a person says should be treated in isolation from any prior assessment of that person’s character. This will avoid us being in any way influenced by prejudice against that person. But this is to be wilfully blind and wilfully ignorant of what human nature is. The Christian starts his understanding of his own heart and of all other hearts with the understanding given to him in the word of God that man is a fallen being and has sin living in him. He adds to this the fact that God is at work in the world in saving power and that all people can be divided into those who know God and those who do not. Those who know God are being sanctified and sin is being gradually put to death within them. Even among those who do not know God, there are degrees of sin and remnants of righteousness, and character varies.

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Proverbs 26:24 Commentary and Bible Study