A Final Lesson on Speaking & Listening Well. Proverbs 27-31

May the mumbling commence!

Today, we wrap up Proverbs.  As you may have noticed, I’ve been focusing on how we use our words… and how we listen.  These two things are interrelated.  Read some more from the last five chapters of Proverbs.

Don't brag about tomorrow,

since you don't know what the day will bring. 

Don't praise yourself; let others do it!  (27:1-2)

Don’t mistake praise for bragging nor bragging for self-praise.  Let other people praise you.  But be careful how you partake of other peoples’ praise:

To flatter people is to lay a trap for their feet. (29:5)

Flattery is to lay a trap for people.  Don’t let your head get too big.  Pride comes before the fall.  This is true of both sincere and insincere praise.  But it’s especially true of insincere.  Read some more:

In the end, people appreciate frankness more than flattery. (28:3)

Frankness and flattery can often be polar opposites.  We should crave constructive criticism more than praise.  Read some more:

Whoever stubbornly refuses to accept criticism

will suddenly be broken beyond repair. (29:1)

We can either accept and incorporate criticism into our lives OR we can allow mole hills to become mountains of problems.  And the best criticism that we can receive is those words inspired by the Word of God.

When people do not accept divine guidance, they run wild.

But whoever obeys the law is happy. (29:18)

Let’s tame ourselves so that we may obey and find happiness and life to the fullest – the way that God originally intended for things to be.  To do so, we must think at least twice as much as we speak.  We must think upon God’s Laws so that we may form our attitudes rightly.  Read some more:

There is more hope for a fool

than for someone who speaks without thinking. (29:20)

And many people here in the United States are powerful.  How do we rightly use that power in our speech?  We need to listen twice as much as we speak.  Think twice as much as we speak.  And we need to discover the vulnerable people in our midst and around the world… those who do not have voices of their own (that will be heard).  Then, let’s open our mouths and speak for them.  Let’s train them how to speak and be heard (if possible).  Read from the last chapter of Proverbs (chapter thirty-one):

Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves; ensure justice for those who are perishing.  Yes, speak up for the poor and helpless, and see that they get justice.  (Verses 8-9)  

Speak up for the voiceless.  Speak up so that justice may reign.  

Enough mumbling for now…  

Peace Out