The Book of Proverbs is a wonderful book in the Bible filled with God's wisdom for our day to day living. Even some of the proverbs which on the surface seem so obvious to us can contain deep truths when we contemplate them; as does all of God's Word.
I have read through the Book of Proverbs several times, high-lighting certain phrases and passages, trying to absorb as much as I can, but the other day I came across a verse that really hit me: Proverbs 18:20. "A man’s stomach shall be satisfied from the fruit of his mouth; From the produce of his lips he shall be filled. " (NKJV)
In the past I have looked for verses to go deeper into God's truth that our words really do shape our destiny. We have the ability with our words to bless or curse; others and ourselves.
We are all familiar with Proverbs 18:21,"Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruits. " But when I read verse 20 it jumped off the page at me: Essentially Solomon is saying, "What you say is what you get." or "You are what you say!"
The Book of Proverbs has a lot to say about our words. In Proverbs 11:17 we read, “Your own soul is nourished when you are kind, but you destroy yourself when you are cruel.” I would have expected the verse to say that we destroy others with our words, but God is telling us that we are nourished when we speak kindly but that we destroy ourselves with our own words! Ouch!
Conversely the Bible does has much to say about how our words effect others:
Proverbs 15:4 “Gentle words bring life and health; a deceitful tongue crushes the spirit.”;
Proverbs 16:24 “Kind words are like honey–sweet to the soul and healthy for the body.”
Proverbs 18:4 “A person’s words can be life-giving water; words of true wisdom are as refreshing as a bubbling brook.”
I think the Lord is telling us that not only do the words we use effect others, they have an effect on us too – they release life or death into our lives. Calling ourselves or others "stupid" or using some other put-down only releases torment upon us and those around us.
How many times have we said to ourselves, "Nice going, stupid!" or ""I'm an idiot!" or "I'll never get this..."? When we say those things we release that as a truth into our lives. We should never say anything over ourselves or others that God would not say. Obviously God does not look at us and put us down. He has only good words for us. And our words should agree with God. If they don't agree with him they are agreeing with the enemy.
Remember, you and I were created in the image of God and he created the earth through words. He has given us the same creative or destructive power in our words. Let's make sure that our words give life, love and encouragement to others and to ourselves.
God bless you,
Fr. Jim