Proverbs 4:24-27 says,...
Today's verses are Proverbs 4:24-27, which read,
v.24 - Put away from you a deceitful mouth and put devious speech far from you.
Solomon is going to give us some more practical ways to stay on the path of the wise and avoid the way of the foolish. He is going to give us some body parts to direct and the first is our mouth or better yet our tongue. If I am going to stay on the path of the wise then I need to guard what comes out of me. I need make sure the deceitfulness and deviousness is not part of my vocabulary.
The interesting thing is that the mouth and the tongue are the last place for these things to show up. If you have a deceitful mouth and devious speech then you were deceitful and devious first deeper within you for it to come out of your mouth. To keep your mouth and tongue from it means that you don't have those things in your heart. You do not operate on a life of deceitfulness but rather a life of truth. You do not operate on a life of deviousness but rather at life of openness. You are not thinking or doing things behind the scene to harm others but you are very open with the truth and looking to openly love God and others, putting them before yourself. Whatever instruction is given about the mouth or the tongue is instruction to look deeper into yourself than just changing your vocabulary. The change in your vocabulary will be the result of the change in your heart and the tongue is a gauge to know where your heart is.
v.25 - Let your eyes look directly ahead and let your gaze be fixed straight in front of you.
This is very practical. There are many times that I look directly ahead and fix my gaze straight in front of me in the very visual world that we live in. Job tells us to train our eyes for looking upon what is good and not what is evil. The eyes are a window into our brain and whatever we allow them to gaze on is what we then think about and dwell upon to in the future act out.
Simply put, there are things that I look at and there are things that I do not. There are times when I turn the channel and times when I shut the whole show off. My walk with the Lord is more important than what Satan is trying to get me to look at to the right or to the left. The look or the gaze which allows thoughts into the brain now have a chance to change what comes out of my mouth and the formed words by my tongue.
v.26, 27 - Watch the path of your feet and all your ways will be established. Do not turn to the right nor the left; turn your foot from evil.
Now lets look at our feet. Where are they taking us? Do you put yourself in a place where the atmosphere does not promote holiness but rather sinfulness? Therefore I am putting myself in a place to view with my eyes what will go into my mind and then come out of my mouth. Do you see the progression of temptation used by Satan? If he can get you in the vicinity by moving your feet off the path of the wise to view some things that are not pure then those things will enter our minds to work a different way of life that will appear in what we say.
We need to be active in watching where we go and what we see and what we say. We are back to the Sunday School song, "Oh be careful little eyes what you see, for the Father up above is looking down in love..." The fact of the matter is that the Father is looking, He is seeing all that is going on and He loves you so why are you where your feet have taken you and why are you looking at something that isn't God honoring and why have you abandoned loving Him and others by speaking deceitful and devious words that tear down instead of build up?
We can not control all situations but there are plenty of times to guard those feet, eyes, and tongue. My father was a new Christian and he was car pooling with a group of guys who would stop at the bar on the way home every Friday night after payday. He would stay in the car and read his Bible and then end up driving them home. He had a problem with alcohol before and had put himself in the place, his feet, to partake in what he couldn't control. Those places have much to look at that is not promoting the holy relationship that God created between a man and woman called marriage. The language that comes out of being in a place and viewing what shouldn't be seen starts to show its effect by language that tears down what God has created. My father watched his feet and guarded his eyes and keep his tongue from those things so that he could arrive home to his wife and kids focused on the path of the wise and not the way of the foolish. Thanks dad for doing that for us and for God. Let's pray.
"Lord, wisdom takes discipline. Wisdom takes self-control. Wisdom takes focus on You. Help us to see where we have wandered that we should not be. Help us to be convicted of what we are seeing that should be turned off or turned aside from. Help us to see that the tongue problem is a deeper problem. May we focus all of ourselves on You today. May our feet bring us closer to You. May our eyes gaze upon Your beauty. May our lips speak of You and Your gospel of grace. Amen."
Pastor Adam
v.24 - Put away from you a deceitful mouth and put devious speech far from you.
Solomon is going to give us some more practical ways to stay on the path of the wise and avoid the way of the foolish. He is going to give us some body parts to direct and the first is our mouth or better yet our tongue. If I am going to stay on the path of the wise then I need to guard what comes out of me. I need make sure the deceitfulness and deviousness is not part of my vocabulary.
The interesting thing is that the mouth and the tongue are the last place for these things to show up. If you have a deceitful mouth and devious speech then you were deceitful and devious first deeper within you for it to come out of your mouth. To keep your mouth and tongue from it means that you don't have those things in your heart. You do not operate on a life of deceitfulness but rather a life of truth. You do not operate on a life of deviousness but rather at life of openness. You are not thinking or doing things behind the scene to harm others but you are very open with the truth and looking to openly love God and others, putting them before yourself. Whatever instruction is given about the mouth or the tongue is instruction to look deeper into yourself than just changing your vocabulary. The change in your vocabulary will be the result of the change in your heart and the tongue is a gauge to know where your heart is.
v.25 - Let your eyes look directly ahead and let your gaze be fixed straight in front of you.
This is very practical. There are many times that I look directly ahead and fix my gaze straight in front of me in the very visual world that we live in. Job tells us to train our eyes for looking upon what is good and not what is evil. The eyes are a window into our brain and whatever we allow them to gaze on is what we then think about and dwell upon to in the future act out.
Simply put, there are things that I look at and there are things that I do not. There are times when I turn the channel and times when I shut the whole show off. My walk with the Lord is more important than what Satan is trying to get me to look at to the right or to the left. The look or the gaze which allows thoughts into the brain now have a chance to change what comes out of my mouth and the formed words by my tongue.
v.26, 27 - Watch the path of your feet and all your ways will be established. Do not turn to the right nor the left; turn your foot from evil.
Now lets look at our feet. Where are they taking us? Do you put yourself in a place where the atmosphere does not promote holiness but rather sinfulness? Therefore I am putting myself in a place to view with my eyes what will go into my mind and then come out of my mouth. Do you see the progression of temptation used by Satan? If he can get you in the vicinity by moving your feet off the path of the wise to view some things that are not pure then those things will enter our minds to work a different way of life that will appear in what we say.
We need to be active in watching where we go and what we see and what we say. We are back to the Sunday School song, "Oh be careful little eyes what you see, for the Father up above is looking down in love..." The fact of the matter is that the Father is looking, He is seeing all that is going on and He loves you so why are you where your feet have taken you and why are you looking at something that isn't God honoring and why have you abandoned loving Him and others by speaking deceitful and devious words that tear down instead of build up?
We can not control all situations but there are plenty of times to guard those feet, eyes, and tongue. My father was a new Christian and he was car pooling with a group of guys who would stop at the bar on the way home every Friday night after payday. He would stay in the car and read his Bible and then end up driving them home. He had a problem with alcohol before and had put himself in the place, his feet, to partake in what he couldn't control. Those places have much to look at that is not promoting the holy relationship that God created between a man and woman called marriage. The language that comes out of being in a place and viewing what shouldn't be seen starts to show its effect by language that tears down what God has created. My father watched his feet and guarded his eyes and keep his tongue from those things so that he could arrive home to his wife and kids focused on the path of the wise and not the way of the foolish. Thanks dad for doing that for us and for God. Let's pray.
"Lord, wisdom takes discipline. Wisdom takes self-control. Wisdom takes focus on You. Help us to see where we have wandered that we should not be. Help us to be convicted of what we are seeing that should be turned off or turned aside from. Help us to see that the tongue problem is a deeper problem. May we focus all of ourselves on You today. May our feet bring us closer to You. May our eyes gaze upon Your beauty. May our lips speak of You and Your gospel of grace. Amen."
Pastor Adam
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