“He who guards his mouth and his tongue

     keeps himself from calamity.”

 

My kids already understood a portion of the depths of the wisdom in this proverb.  So early on does this proverb speak so clearly, as early as the first word that crosses our lips.  As triplets, my kids get to experience the benefits as well as the not so beneficial aspects of being the same age.  When one of them makes a mistake, the other two are quick to point it out.  As my daughter, who was attempting to put her interrupting brothers in their place, famously shouted, “If you won’t listen to me, then I won’t listen to me!”, this quote has been used many times to point out when our words get ahead of our mouths.

 

Betsy and I went straight to James 3:1-12 to give our kids a clear concept of what power we have in our mouths.  Matthew 15:18 drew us in even deeper for the tongue gets its signal from the heart.  When I asked my kids, “Where’s Jesus?”  We were immediately brought to the beginning of the book of John 1:1, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”  In v. 14, we read of how “The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us.”  When we considered Jesus as the Word of God, the Proverb flipped and we saw the depth of the heart of God.  If the words on our tongue come from our hearts, then the Word of God must come from His.  However, Jesus was not guarded, and the calamity of the cross was not avoided, 1 Corinthians 15:3-4.  For our sakes, he bore our sins, 1Peter 2:24, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness and become new creations in Him, 2 Corinthians 5:17.

 

Jesus fulfilled this proverb by taking its truth and wisdom upon Himself for our sake.  He took our sin and the calamity it brings to the cross.  A way has been made for us; a way beyond death that starts even now for all who believe in Him.  Come to faith in Jesus even now.  Become a new creation in Him, and live your new life today!

“A wise man attacks the city of the mighty

     and pulls down the stronghold in which they trust.”

 

We opened this one in military fashion and read it like advice given by an old experienced General.  We then thought of the story of David and Goliath, 1 Samuel 17.  When Goliath- the mighty mouthpiece of the Philistine army, was brought down by David, a child of Israel- by the power of God, the Philistines ran.  It was a great example that highlighted the seed of wisdom embedded in this proverb.

 

When I asked my kids, “Where’s Jesus?”  We thought of a similar story of Jesus and the Gerasene demoniac, Mark 5.  In it, we read of how a man- tormented by demons and mighty in strength, ran to Jesus.  The demons begged Jesus and first implored Him, by God, not to torment them, v. 7.  Then they implored him a second time ‘not to send them out of the country’, v. 10.  Again, for the third and final time, they implored Jesus to send them into the nearby herd of swine, v. 12.

 

It was the imploring of the demons that still sticks in my mind even to this day.  When I look at both this story and the Proverb, I look down and see the reflection of the Great Commission staring back at me, Matthew 28:16-20.  In it, compared to the demons, we see that likewise, the disciples came to Jesus, but in worship, not in fear.  Both verses declare Jesus’ sovereignty, Mark 5:7/Matthew 28:18.  Jesus came to direct them both- one in fear that they would be sent out of the area, the other in love to be sent to the ends of the earth, Mark 5:10/Matthew 28:19.  Both stories sought incarnation, one of possession, the other of surrender, Mark 5:12/Matthew 28:20.  When obeyed, the teachings of Jesus guide us to eternal life with Him, while the possessed pigs ended in destruction, Matthew 18:20/Mark 5:13. 

 

We then spoke about how this man was made into a new creation at the feet of Jesus, v. 15.  He may not have been beheaded like Goliath and paraded around before the nearby town.  Something much more frighteningly beautiful had happened.  It was the townspeople who were frightened, like the Philistines, and it became their turn to implore Jesus to leave when they should have implored Him to stay.  The story ends with the man imploring Jesus that he might accompany Him, v. 18, but Jesus commissioned him to stay and tell everyone what had happened.  In a way, we saw how Jesus fulfilled this proverb and remade the man into the mouthpiece of God.  And in the pigs’ reflection, that they must have seen in the waves before their fatal “baptism”, in their doom, we see the hope in who Jesus calls us to be.  

 

We see the two.  What will we choose: the path of new creations that Jesus, our General, calls us to in love, or the path of the pigs?