AUGUST 26, 2015
The Power of
Words
Death
and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its
fruit. — Proverbs 18:21
Read:
Proverbs
18:1-8, 20-21
Nelson Mandela, who opposed the South African
apartheid regime and was imprisoned for almost 3 decades, knew the power of
words. He is often quoted today, but while in prison his words could not be
quoted for fear of repercussion. A decade after his release he said: “It is
never my custom to use words lightly. If 27 years in prison have done anything
to us, it was to use the silence of solitude to make us understand how precious
words are, and how real speech is in its impact on the way people live and
die.”
King Solomon, author of most of the Old
Testament book of Proverbs, wrote often about the power of words. He said, “Death
and life are in the power of the tongue” (Prov. 18:21). Words have the
potential to produce positive or negative consequences (v. 20). They have the
power to give life through encouragement and honesty or to crush and kill
through lies and gossip. How can we be assured of producing good words that
have a positive outcome? The only way is by diligently guarding our hearts:
“Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it” (4:23
niv).
Jesus can transform our hearts so that our words
can truly be their best—honest, calm, appropriate, and suitable for the
situation.
Let the words of my mouth and the meditation
of my heart be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord, my strength and my Redeemer.
Psalm 19:14
Our words have the power to build up or tear
down.
INSIGHT:
The Insight for August 4 discussed two Hebrew
poetic devices that mark Jewish poetry. In Proverbs 18 we see another poetic
device, synonymous parallelism, which repeats the same thing in a similar way.
Proverbs 18:20 is an example of this. “Fruit of his mouth” parallels “produce
of his lips,” while “shall be satisfied” lines up with “shall be filled.” As
you read through the proverbs, see if you can find other examples of synonymous
parallelism. Bill Crowder
Source: Our Daily Bread 2015