Proverbs - Wisdom For Troubled Times

If you wanna grab a Bible, we're gonna turn to our readings for this morning. The first 1 is Proverbs chapter 25, from verse 11 to 20, and then second 1 is Romans chapter 12. Verse 9 to 18. So Proverbs chapter 25 and starting at verse 11.

Like apples of gold in settings of silver is a ruling rightly given. Like an earring of gold or an ornament of fine gold is the rebuke of a wise judge to a listening ear. Like a snow called drink its harvest time, is a trustworthy messenger to the 1 who sends him. He refreshes the spirit of his master. Like clouds and wind without rain, is 1 who boasts of gifts never given.

Through patience, a ruler can be persuaded, and a gentle tongue can break a bone. If you find honey, eat just enough, too much of it, and you will vomit. Sell them set foot in your neighbor's house. Too much of you, and they will hate you. Like a club or a sword or a sharp arrow, It's 1 who gives false testimony against the neighbor.

Like a broken tooth or a lame foot is reliant on the unfaithful in a time of trouble. Like 1 who takes away a garment on a cold day, or like vinegar poured on a wound, is 1 who sings songs to a heavy heart. And then flicking over to Romans in chapter 12, and start starting at verse 9. Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil, cling to what is good.

Be devoted to 1 another in love, honor 1 another above yourselves. Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor serving the Lord. Be joyful in hope, patience, in affliction, faithful in prayer. Share with the Lord's people who are in need, practice hospitality. Bless those who persecute you.

Bless and do not curse. Rejoice with those who rejoice, mourn with those who mourn. Living harmony with 1 another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position. Do not be conceited.

Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everyone. If it is possible, as far as it depends you, live at peace with everyone. Do not take revenge my dear friends, but leave room for God's wrath. For it is written, It is mine to avenge I will repay, says the Lord.

On the contrary, if your enemy is hungry, feed him. If he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heat burning coals on his head. Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. Lovely.

Thanks, Rory. My name is Tom. I'm 1 of the ministers here and very good to welcome you this morning to church and to any, still joining us online welcome and a particular warm welcome if you are new, if you're visiting. If this is your first morning with us, it's great to have you here. Let's pray together, shall we?

As we as we come to the Word of God, let's pray Proverbs 25 Father, we we do want to thank you. As we will pray later as well, we want to thank you for Safran. And we want to thank you for her ministry to us and among us over these past 3 years. We thank you for her love for people. For the gift that you've given her to to get to know all different kinds of people and for her for her devotion, for her heart to see people want to Christ, and we thank you for the blessing that she's been as a staff member.

Pray for her as she goes to this new job working in a secular environment for the first time. We pray that you would help her to do the work she's got to do with all diligence to see everything that she does from the little jobs to the large jobs as a means of serving you. Whatever we do whether we eat or drink, we can do it all in the name of God to the glory of Christ. So help her to have that focus as she goes to her work and also to be able to build relationships, to build links, have conversations with people, and to still have that opportunity and that time to share Jesus with her new colleagues and those she works with. So thank you for her.

And orders we come to this amazing chapter now, we pray that you would help us. This is not just something that we do to fill time. This is the words of the living God. Your words inspired to us, faithfully given, faithfully preserved, served across the generations and they have come to us on this day in this moment and lord we pray that you would give us open ears, open eyes, willing hearts that want to receive, repent, change, and just be so grateful for all that you've done for us in Christ. So help us we pray in Jesus' name.

Our men. Well, this may be in bad taste at the moment. Given the times that we find ourselves in. But I want to take you into a financial crisis. We're going back in time to 2008, and the biggest financial crash since the depression is coming.

The world's banking system is about to collapse. Lehman brothers or Lehman brothers or however you say it. 1 of the most famous well known banks of all time is about to collapse. In a single day, 90000000000 pounds is gonna be wiped off the value of some of Britain's biggest companies. And millions and millions of people are going to feel the crunch.

And on the sixteenth of September, despite all of that, Just hours after Lehman Brothers went bankrupt, a magazine hits the shelves. It's the October issue of smart money, which was the magazine that that of of the Wall Street Journal. So hits the shelves, the October version on September the sixteenth, and the headline, the front page is this. Double your nest egg. Now is the time to jump in to cheap stocks, funds, and real estate.

Now, at perhaps any other time in history, that may have been fairly sound sensible advice but that was the day when the stock market started its worst drop in a hundred years, and the whole banking system was on the eve of total collapse. That was literally the worst day to be investing in stocks, funds, and real estate. You see how potentially good advice became dreadful. Not because of the content exactly, but because of the timing. On many days, investing like that may be a, you know, a reason wise thing to do, but as I say on that day, it was the worst thing you could have done.

The advice in isolation in been okay the climate in which it landed made it anything but okay. And there's a principle there which I think is worth us exploring. You think about some of the advice that you've given to people in the past. Or think about some of the advice that you have been given. It may of, in isolation, been perfectly true.

The content may have been fine, and it may have been coming from a good place in the sense that their heart was right to to you. But for whatever reason, the timing just made it so unhelpful. Trastic example, a relationship has just fallen apart, a friend saddles up next to you, Don't worry. There's plenty more fish in the sea. As a statement, it's true in isolation.

And in 6 months time, a year's time, 5, 10 years time, I may be ready to fish again. But at that time, it's just not the greatest bit of advice, freshly coming out of a broken relationship. So you can see how content and timing really matter. Now I know that plenty more fish in the sea is a bit of a cliche, bit of an unreal example. But it leads us towards something true that we see in these proverbs, and that's this.

That loving speech, in order to speak loving and well, we need wisdom. Loving speech requires growing in wisdom. Proverbs has loads to say about this, and we see it in this chapter. There is both a what to say and there is a when to say it. There is content that we need to know, and there is timing in people's lives that we need to appreciate.

There is knowledge that we need to have of the truth, and there is sensitivity to people and what they're going through. Proverbs 25 would tell us that the right words at the right time well presented are a wonderful blessing. But the opposite is also true. The right words at the right time can be a wonderful blessing. The right words at the wrong time can be painful to hear, and the wrong words at any time can just be nothing short of destructive.

And so those are the 3 categories of things that we're going to look at this morning. We'll begin with the negative and work towards the positive, and the points will get longer as we get. The first point is the destruction of evil speech. The second point will be the pain of careless speech. And the third point will be the beauty of timely speech.

And so let's begin with the worst and work towards the best. The destruction of evil speech or evil words. Have a look with me at verse 14. Proverbs 25 if you've closed it and do get it open. Verse 14 Like clouds and wind without rain, is 1 who boasts of gifts never given.

Like clouds and wind without rain is 1 who boasts of gifts never given. Now, you may have seen last week or even over the weekend if you've been looking at the news. There are large areas of the UK and Europe now that that are in drought conditions. And therefore, we're we're seeing things like hose pipe bands coming in, crops potentially being threatened, fires starting, grass, looking yellow, rivers running, low, reservoirs, depleting, all the kinds of things you get in drought conditions, and they're saying that it may go on for for for quite a while. But you imagine, and there are people like this in the world, where that was your living conditions for most of the year.

Where that was the reality that you lived in. You lived day after day after day within a drought. You know, if that's your life, a hosepipe band is the least of your worries. You may not even own 1. Living in a drought is a dreadful thing, but then you imagine the good news.

That after seasons and months of drought, on the horizon, you see a cloud promising rain. You see it forming off in the distance. The wind picks up, and the wind is moving in your direction. It brings the loud over your head and over the crops that you've so loved and want to see revived, you're waiting and anticipating that first cool drop of rain. But then the wind carries it on.

It passes, never refreshes, never gives, doesn't drop its rain, and is gone. As soon as it came. The disappointment, all that refreshment that was promised. But no reality. It's interesting that in the new testament, this is applied to false teachers.

Dude says of false teachers, there are shepherds who feed only themselves. They are clouds without rain. Blown along by the wind. Autumn trees without fruit and uprooted twice dead. See how they're described.

These false teachers come into the church, and they promise refreshment. They've got a gospel that is rich with mercy. It's gonna bring life. It's gonna transform your life. It promises so much when they arrive.

But what it delivers is a legalism, or a license for sin or some kind of exploitation of of of some kind. They arrive and they open their bibles, and the promise refreshment is coming. The cloud is coming over the horizon, but it never comes. That is what it is like to boast in a gift that never arrives. Always bigging ourselves up, boasting of what we can do, boasting of what we will do, making promises that we will deliver.

It is coming. We can do it. We have the capacity. We are able and willing. Always a promise that the gift is just around the corner, but look back and it's a trail of disappointment.

It's just so different from the lord Jesus, isn't it? When he begins his ministry, and he arrives on the horizon and John the Baptist says, look the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. Here he is the promised 1 that we've been looking to. He's come, the promise of mercy, of springs in the desert of rest for the weary. His clouds of mercy are about to break over our heads.

And they do, and he delivers more refreshment that we could even imagine or hope for. Verse 18. Like a club, or a sword or a sharp arrow is 1 who gives false testimony against a neighbor. So this is like walking into an armory. This proverb is a pile up of weapons.

You've got swords, you've clubs, you've got arrows, you've got handguns, you've got flick knight, You've got m sixteen's. It's just an arsenal walking into an arsenal and seeing all these weapons stacked up. And of course, they mean different things. Each 1 tells a story. You see, what kind of weapon is an arrow?

Is it 1 that you use close-up? No, it's 1 that you use from a distance. This is the kind of false testimony that is so easy to spread from behind your computer. A bit of fake advice shared online a bit of fake news, a fake image posted, and then you can simply watch back, watch sit back, and watch the lie do its work. Watch the arrow pierce someone and destroy them from the safety of your own home.

Or there's the flick knife. Which is the up close and personal lie, and that's particularly brutal because you can look into the eye of the 1 who's doing it to you. This is a lie perhaps from someone that you know, someone that you trust someone in your life who has turned Folst testimony is a weapon. That's what this proverb is saying. False testimony and spreadable lies They ruin reputations, they destroy people's marriages, they wreck people's companies, They can split people's churches and they can vandalize people's image.

But it also harms the 1 who gives the false testimony. There's an old Chinese proverb which is about revenge, but it works for this too. If you lie about your neighbor, you dig 2 graves. 1 for them and 1 for you. If you lie about your neighbor, if you live by lies, you dig 2 graves.

You ruin the reputation and the life of the 1 you lie against, but in the process you destroy your own soul. The false testimony that the lie is a destructive evil word. And again, by looking at the negative, it's amazing how the Lord Jesus just shines. It's all to get different from this, isn't it? He calls himself the way, and the life, and the truth.

And here's the thing with Jesus, not only did he never tell a lie, it was impossible for him to lie. He cannot lie. He is an altogether truth telling, reliable, dependent, savior, and not 1 of his good promises as ever failed, and not 1 word we read from his lips will fail to come true. He's altogether truthful. And when we know him, the Bible says, We enjoy great freedom.

Know the truth said Jesus and the truth will set you free. I can lay down my weapons now. I don't have to lie anymore in order to save face. I can accept my mistakes without it crushing me. Because the truth has set me free.

I don't have to lie anymore because I'm jealous of other people. I don't have to lie in order to put them down because I wanna look good. Because the truth has set me free. God made me. God knows me.

He loves me as I am. He saved me, and therefore, I can rejoice with those who rejoice even if they've got more than I can. More than I have. Don't need to lie about them anymore. The truth sets us free.

Proverbs 14 25, a truthful witness saves lives. That's Jesus, isn't it? A truthful witness saves lives, how different he is from the destructive power of false testimony. So firstly, just a couple examples. The destructive power of evil words.

Secondly, let's look at the pain of careless words. The pain of careless words, and the word careless is is quite important here. I you see, I don't think when smart money magazine published that magazine. They intended to do people harm. I don't think they thought, let's publish this and wreck as many people's finances as we can.

I guess they wanted to help, and I guess it came from a good place. And the same is often true for us. Many many times, and surely you will have experienced this if you've been a Christian for any length of time. Many times, we say careless things. Not because we set out to provoke someone or to be insensitive.

That wasn't our goal when we initiated conversation them. In fact, it was the opposite. We thought, well, I don't want to ignore this person. I love them, and I basically want to move towards them and do good by them. But just the way I said it or the timing made it made it careless.

Often the motive is right even if the timing is wrong. And as Christians, if we're on the receiving end of that advice, we should really try to give it the best reading we can. You see love hopes all things, Paul says. In other words, when we get advice like that, even if it comes at a lousy time, we we want to assume the best motives, to give it the best reading, to assume that they really do love us, and did actually want the best for us and didn't want to ignore us. You see, there are some there are some Christians who for them, it's always the wrong time to be spoken to.

It doesn't matter what you say or how you say it, it's always offensive, always insensitive, and always comes at the wrong time, and they seem to take a kind of pleasure in proving that you're an insensitive person. We don't want to be like that, do we? So prickly that everything we hear, every help offered is insensitive, badly put, unhelpful. Wanna be grateful for each other when we try to when we try to speak. But nonetheless, proverbs would say, no, there there is a type of speech, which is kind of deliberately careless, which is just thoughtless and lazy.

Have a look at verse 20, I think it's the best example in the chapter. Like 1 who takes away a garment on a cold day or like vinegar poured on a wound. Is 1 who sings songs to a heavy heart. Is it wrong to encourage joy in other people. It can't be can it.

Are there many occasions when that is exactly what we need to hear, there are. But in this proverb, the timing is way off and worse, it's damaging. Both of those images, you take away a garment from someone on a cold day or you pour vinegar into their wound to try to treat them. They they are both images of unhelpful painful bits of advice that we have been given or that we give. It's the opposite of what Paul says in Romans 12, isn't it?

Rejoice with those who rejoice, mourn with those who mourn. That's the right way round. And therefore, to see somebody who is mourning and to conclude that what they need is more merriment in their lives, what they need is to be overwhelmed with calls to rejoice is insensitive, is lazy, is painful. And that's the point that both Proverbs and Romans 12 are making. When it comes to 1 another, love isn't casual, about the grief that people go through.

It doesn't assume that if we sing long enough and loud enough, people will just get over it. It works hard to try to understand, to try to work out what would be the best word for at this time. When it's right to rejoice, I wanna rejoice with them. When it's right to mourn, I wanna mourn with them. But what I don't wanna do is summon to a kind of false, unreal emotion, set a bar for them which they'll never reach, and which is only really gonna do them more harm.

Than good. That's the sort of pain of careless speech. And again, you think about how different Jesus is. John 11, you know that story. He turns up to a funeral.

Lazarus is dead. Mary is weeping. And what does he do? With those who weep, he weeps. But then he says, Mary, your brother will rise again.

It is a perfect blend of truth and sensitivity. It is a perfect blend of knowledge and understanding exactly what was needed. And exactly what we would expect from the very incarnation of love. No careless words, no laziness, just a proper, hardworking, understanding, sort of love. That's what the proverbs are calling us to.

So there we go, destruction of evil speech, the pain of careless speech, thirdly and lastly, Let's look at the beauty of timely speech. The beauty of timely speech. And here's verse 11 to to 12. Like apples of gold in settings of silver, is a ruling rightly given. Now originally, the word like isn't in that proverb.

So it just reads apples of gold in silver settings, a word spoken in its season. So the like isn't there. Apple's of gold in settings of silver, a word spoken in its season. And what the proverb is wanting us to do is to say, you think about how they relate. Here's 2 images for you, a word spoken rightly, apples in settings of silver.

Here's 2 thoughts for you Now you do the hard work of putting them together. What what's the link? Is it the quality of the word? The word is golden. It's weighty, it's precious, it's full of content, it's worth hearing.

Is it the setting, or how the word is presented? It comes in settings of silver. Does that mean that the manner and the tone and the presentation of the apple are just as important as the apple itself. You don't want to serve a golden apple in a naf receptacle. Do you?

You want to match beauty with beauty. You've got a weighty word. You want to present it well and graciously and draw everyone's attention to it. Well, that's got to be right. Or is it about the timing at which this word comes?

So the new living translation takes that line and takes it timely advice is lovely, like golden apples in a silver basket. In other words, this is the best of apples, golden, harvested at just the right time, picked at its peak and serve to you when it's best. It comes at the right time. Is it the quality of the word? Is it the presentation?

Is it the timing? It's gotta be all of those things, isn't it? The proverb is saying that a quality word graciously presented exactly when you need it, is a precious treasure. It's unmatched in its beauty. And not just those words which are pleasant to hear.

That's also true of words which are harder to hear. So you have a look at verse 12, these 2 go together. Like an earring of gold or an ornament of fine gold, is the rebuke of a wise judge to a listening ear, like an earring of gold or an ornament of Fine God is the rebuke of a wise judge to a listening ear. Now how do you get to the point as a person? Where receiving a rebuke is precious.

How do you see it as a beautiful thing? Well, not because it's always pleasant to hear, not because it's nice to admit and front our failings, but because when we're wise, there is something more precious to us than how we look or what people think of us and that's wisdom. That's the thing we're after. We don't see the opinions of other people as the most precious thing in lives. There's something more valuable there after.

And therefore, if a wise rebuke is going to help me get there, well, I'm going to embrace it. Because that's my end goal. My end goal isn't to look great in front of everybody. My end goal is to be wise. And therefore if you can help me with a timely rebuke to be wise, I'm not saying it's always gonna be pleasant, but in the end it will be seen to be precious because it's take me where I wanna go.

Which is wisdom. See the beauty of these kinds of words. Maybe you've had something like that in the past. Someone has spoken to you, and maybe the rebuke has come in the form of a question to get you to look inside and check your own motives. Maybe it's just been a straight word, and looking back you think, do you know what?

Even though I was a bit resistant at first, that that actually was exactly what I needed to hear. That came at just the right time. And as I look back, I'm so thankful for that because that's taken me to a better place than I. Than I was. Beauty of timely words.

Verse 13, like a snow called drink at harvest time. Is a trustworthy messenger to the ones who send him. He refreshes the spirit of his master, Now in this part of the world, harvest could be a very dangerous time. You might remember we looked at this in 2 kings some time ago, and 1 of the stories we looked at was the shunammite son in 2 kings chapter 4. And in that chapter, The son is out in the field with the dad and the reapers at Harvest time, and he seems to die of heat stroke.

He suddenly says, father, my head, my head, and then he is taken back, and he dies. And lots of commentators think that is a sort of heat induced death. Working out in the harvest, bearing the sun of the day, and dying of some some sort of heat stroke, and still still today. You know, the heat it's, you know, don't mess with it. Those are the warnings we're getting, amber, yellow, red.

You know, don't mess with the heat. It can be a very dangerous thing. But get this. If you I mean, if you happen to be rich, apparently, what you could do when the harvest was really hot is you could pay people to go up into the mountains and bring down snow for you, which is an amazing thought, isn't it? So the harvest is boiling.

You and your workers are suffering. You pay some people to trek up into the mountains and haul a load of snow down for you so that you when you're out in the in the harvest, you can have your ice box or your snow box with your iced coffee inside or or whatever you want. And you could you could make sure that even in the hottest worst conditions, you had these refreshing icy luxuries. And so the point of that proverb is, I want you to imagine ice coffee may not be your thing, but imagine what would be total refreshment for you. Imagine a scene of total refreshment.

Now who is like that says the proverb? A trustworthy messenger is like that. 1 who is totally refreshing. Maybe you can think of an example in your own life where you've been going through some kind of heat. Whether that be an illness that you've been going through or a testing relationship that you're in or a disappointment of some kind or financial hardships that you're going through are anticipating, and a word comes to you like an ice cold drink.

It is so in the heat that you're going through. It is so refreshing. So why. So what you needed to hear in that moment. But it's not only the people who get refreshed by a messenger like that, it's the 1 who sends them.

Notice that emphasis in the proverb. He refreshes the spirit of who, of his master. You might remember back in a march, Shane Warren, who was the the great Australian leg spinner, died quite quite suddenly. And like thousands of other people, I guess, I went straight onto YouTube and just wanted to rewatch some of his greatest deliveries of all time. And if you're into cricket, even if you're not, I mean, some of the things that he could do with with a cricket ball were were unbelievable.

I mean, we're talking generating multiple feet of spin in a short time. I mean, spinning it even on glass, I reckon he could probably do. He was a wizard with the cricket ball absolutely impossible to play against. And of course, if you are a spin bowler, that's exactly what you want to happen, isn't it? What makes a spin bolus so deadly is the ability to manipulate, to spin a ball to swing a ball, to change a delivery in order that it appears like something else and deceives the batsman.

It's in the job description. To manipulate the delivery. Nobody wants a messenger like that. Nobody wants a messenger who puts their own spin on the delivery. Nobody wants a messenger who will manipulate the message, to turn it into something other than what it was.

You want that delivery to arrive in exactly the right condition. You want it to arrive in the condition that you sent it. You want a messenger like Jesus. Who brings God's word without spin or deceit or manipulation, but brings it in total truth. That's the sort of messenger that you want.

So easy, isn't it? When we've got a piece of news to share, something we wanna say to put our own spin on it. Just to slightly polish 1 side, to throw another person into the shade. To put ourselves into the spotlight, to do what we can to swing the delivery in our favor. But this proverb is asking us, think about your context, whether it's university, whether it's in the office, whether it's around the wards at a hospital, whether it's going on the school run to pick up the kids.

Think, can we be relied upon? To handle the truth well. Can we be relied on to handle it with both integrity and sensitivity, not to put our own spin on it, but to deliver things as they are because there is nothing more refreshing than a faithful messenger. There is nothing more refreshing to people and to those who send them than 1 who handles the truth well. The beauty of timely words, a faithful, a faithful messenger.

Verse 15, through patience, A ruler can be persuaded, and a gentle tongue can break a bone. Through patients, a ruler can be persuaded and a gentle tongue can break a bone. Now let's think about this from another angle. How else could you try to persuade a ruler? What are your options?

If you work alongside someone, maybe an authority over you and you want to try and persuade them. Well, 1 option is to fight fire with fire, isn't it? You can persuade them that way by trying to out muscle them, out shout them, and break down their resistance and get your own way. It's like in the movies, you know sometimes you'll see dads giving advice to kids who are being bullied. And they'll say, my son next time that happens.

Next time that bully gives you trouble. I want you to take your fist, clench it as hard as you can, and plant 1 on his nose with all the might that you can muster, and he will never come near you again. Yeah? That's a kind of fire with fire approach. That's how to persuade the bully not to do it.

You you show a stronger force to literally break the bone in that case. But wisdom says there's another way to get things done. William Wilberforce, evangelical Christian politician of the eighteenth and nineteenth century who was hugely important in the abolition of slavery In fact, he really spearheaded the campaign to abolish slavery in this country. He's a great example of this. Apparently, I was reading this week that in every year between 17 89 and 18 o 6, he presented a bill for the abolition of the slave trade.

In every year, he did it. That's 17 years. He came back year after year after year, bill after bill after bill. Knock back after knock back after knock back. Until finally, in 18 o 7, the bone of resistance was broken.

The power of a gentle word over time. And look, some of us We'll have trouble in our marriages. We will have trouble in our work relationships. We will have trouble with the people that we live with because we believe that the best way to win them is always a show of strength, fire with fire, a louder voice, a more heated opinion, a stiffer neck, a refusal to bow down, and a resistance to saying, sorry. We think that's the way to win people in our lives, and we have all kinds of trouble in our relationships because of that.

But this proverb is saying, look, it may involve a come down which we don't like. It may involve asking for help, which we don't like. But through patience and with a gentle tongue, and with a forgiving spirit, even the biggest obstacles, and the darkest seasons in your relationships can be broken, Those bones of resistance can be broken with a gentle word over time. Such good advice, isn't it? For tough situations, this sort of wisdom is is unmatched.

And it is exactly how Jesus treats us, isn't it? You think about how does Jesus break the bone of our pride? Sometimes, he does give the short sharp shock, which we need. But very often, it's the patient over time, gentle shepherding process. By which he breaks the bones of our sin so that we can love him and live more faithfully for him.

You see the beauty of timely words. Proverbs 15 23 summarizes it. A person finds joy in giving an apt reply. And how good is a timely word. It's a great summer, isn't it?

The ability to speak well To know what to say and when, to use words with knowledge and sensitivity brings joy to everybody involved. Both the 1 who sends that person, the 1 who speaks that message, and the 1 who hears it. It's an all around blessing. And the great news for us this morning is that James 1 verse 5 says, if we lack wisdom, and we want to grow in this area. We have a God who loves us and is generous to help us.

James 1 verse 5, if any of you lacks wisdom And when it comes to how we use words, we all need that. Don't we? If any of you lack wisdom, you should ask God who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you. That's a promise. If we ask God with sincere hearts, it is his delight to give and give and give generously so that we might become wise children who reflect him in every way.

That's what he wants for us. He's generous to give us that wisdom. If with believing hearts, we will ask him. And that's where Proverbs is is wanting us to go. You see, this this book, and we've said this a number of times, isn't just trying to overwhelm us with a standard that we can't reach, week after week after week.

It's not just trying to say, here's a whole another list of things. Here's Jesus. You meet that bar continually, or you will die. It's saying to us, look, we have failed and we have been careless with our words, haven't we? We have seen the destruction that our evil words have caused.

We have seen the pain that our careless words have caused. We have. But we have a Savior, Jesus Christ, the wisdom of God who has done it all for us. Who has spoken words with total grace and beauty. And best of all, he's died for all of our reckless words, pay the penalty that we deserve, risen again, and through him, we can know forgiveness for every wretched word we've spoken and that we can come to this God and know that he is for us and he wants us to grow.

And he says to us, my children, forgiven by my son, If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you so that you my child can know the joy of giving timely beautiful words. Let's bow our heads, shall we? And let's pray that we would be a people more and more marked by that kind of speech.