Proverbs 12:18-19, Truth Wears Well!
June 15, Proverbs 12:18-19
Matt. 26:69-75; 2 Tim. 3 “Eternity is at once the gain of truth, and the cost of a lie” (Ps. 15).
Truth Wears Well!
The slanderer and backbiter, the railer and flatterer, the unrighteous witness and the babbler, have all something in common. They kill with the tongue!
1. The Harmful: There is that speaketh like the piercings of a sword (v.18a). He speaks thoughtlessly or rashly, hence, he is a babbler (boteh, a rare word – only here in Proverbs). He is like a man recklessly stabbing with a naked sword, or in our day, waving a gun. The tongue may not be steel, but it still cuts deep (Ps. 22:20; 42:10; 57:4)! “Many a word at random spoken may wound… a heart that’s broken.” Have we not all, at some time, felt words that were like the piercings of a sword (Job 16:9)? As we saw elsewhere (12:6), words can harm as surely as a sword or gun. There are civil laws against libel and slander. How much more does the God of Heaven abhor and condemn such babblers (Mt. 5:21-22)! Let us not be guilty of this wickedness.
2. The Helpful: The tongue of the wise is health (v.18b). In beautiful contrast there are the words of the healer, the physician (Jer. 8:15, 22; Mal. 4:2). The tongue of the wise administers a healing balm that cures the wounds inflicted by the wicked tongue. We saw that words must not only be true, they must also be just. So here, it is not enough that our words carry no venom. They must be healing words, words that minister grace unto the hearers (Eph. 4:29). The tongue of the wise is a calming, strengthening remedy. It may be a slower tongue, but safer, and helps keep society safer too. Healthy doctrine produces healthy living, and thus becomes its own defense. It reminds us of the tongue of the learned, to speak a word in season to him that is weary (Isa. 1:4).
3. The Timeless: The lip of truth shall be forever (v.19a). Blessed lips! Blessed truth! Precious lips! Precious truth! “Be of good comfort, Master Ridley, and play the man for God. We shall this day light such a candle by God’s grace in England, as, I trust, shall never be put out.” Will Bishop Latimer’s trust be proved wrong after all? Church of England clergy at present are defecting to the Rome that burned their martyrs. Will God let the Light go out in England? He has still a faithful remnant in the land of Ridley and Latimer. We fear for the survival of truth, but from God’s eternal viewpoint truth will outlast all error, and the father of lies will be cast into the Lake of Fire (Rev. 21:8; 22:15).
4. The Temporary: A lying tongue is but for a moment (v.19b). Truth is forever! Lies are but for a moment! What a contrast! The Hebrew is very graphic. Literally it says, I will wink, or while I would twinkle. It reminds us of the suddenness of the Coming of the Lord in the twinkling of an eye (1 Cor. 15:52). “A lie, in that it is a lie, always carries within itself the germs of its own dissolution. It is sure to destroy its self at last.” Carlyle says, “There is no lie in the long run successful.” It is a mere gourd, that comes up in a night, and perishes in a night; and the greater its growth, the more dramatic its rot.
Thought: Truth may be eclipsed, but it will be vindicated.
Prayer: Lord, keep me from the shame and confusion of lying.