October 12

Oct 12 - Today from Proverbs 12 we look at verse 14
"From the fruit of his lips a man is filled with good things as surely as the work of his hands reward him."

Don't you appreciate the metaphoric beauty of the Eastern language? I do. We in the West are so conceptual. If a Westerner were to have written this Proverb, he probably would have said something like, "What we say is just as important as what we do." That's a concept, but it lacks the dimension of the metaphor before us.
"The fruit of the lips." What does that suggest to you? Something of substance. Fruit is an outcome, or a result of a fruit-bearing plant. It is, in essence, the final result. Galatians 5:22-23 speaks of the "fruit of the Spirit". It reveals the result of a person's character who lives by the Spirit. It is the Character of Christ. There is another thing about fruit - it contains seed that bears after its own kind. Not only is there a final outcome of the efforts of our speech, but there is contained in that outcome seeds for the future. Wow! That opens a whole new dimension of thought. Galatians 5:22-23 reveals the character of Christ. That character was 'seeded' in us by the Holy Spirit when we were found of Christ and restored to the Father. When we bear the fruit of the Spirit in our lives, we become agents of seeding Christ's character into the lives of others. Can there be an outcome of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control by the things we speak? Of course - when we give control of our lips to the Holy Spirit.
"The work of his hands reward him." This is the second metaphor for the reality that there is a substantial outcome regarding the words we speak. The first was fruit. This is creative ability. Two different metaphors for the same outcome. Fruit has a creative ability in its seed. A man's hands have creative ability through intentional effort. One is a natural process, the other requires discovery, training and practice. One flows from man's heart controlled by the Holy Spirit, the other is developed through an act of man's will. One is the result of God's integrity, the other is a result of man's integrity. One is God's divine action, the other is man's free will. Yet, both are different facets of the same truth. In both, God is glorified. God created creative hands, and God specifically gifted them. Man's duty is to discover what particular gifting he has and then develop his God-given skills to acquire productive outcome. Whatever that outcome is, it is man's reward for his effort. "The work of his hands rewards him" if he is astute enough to discover his skills, diligent enough to develop and hone his skills, and industrious enough to apply his skills. Thus the second metaphor reveals the creative ability of the words we speak. It requires discovery, diligence and purposeful application in order to produce good things with our words. Even this is only possible through God's grace.
Speech creates. It creates emotions, attitudes, and reactions. Speech seeds. Our words plant seeds into the minds and souls of others. Seeds that can germinate and bear fruit through the actions and words of those who hear. Fruit that bears after its own kind. We must constantly keep that picture in our mind. It is so much more powerful than saying "what we say is important."
In the end, we can only but pray the humble words of the Psalmist in Psalm 141:3 -
"Set a guard over my mouth, O Lord; keep watch over the door of my lips."
- Amen