Proverbs 26:22

The Bible says in Proverbs 26:22, “The words of a talebearer are as wounds, and they go down into the innermost parts of the belly.” This verse emphasizes the great harm caused by those who gossip. Words can do great good. God gave us His perfect written word so that we can know the truth about Him. Every word of the Bible is His Word. That is one of the reasons that Timothy was told, “Preach the Word. Be instant in season, out of season: reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine.” But words can also do great harm. In the age in which we live harmful words can not only be in spoken form, but also on facebook or twitter or something else on the internet. Christians are told in James 3:6-8, “And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity: so is the tongue among our members, that it defileth the whole body, and setteth on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire of hell.[7] For every kind of beasts, and of birds, and of serpents, and of things in the sea, is tamed, and hath been tamed of mankind:[8] But the tongue can no man tame; it is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison.”

The Bible says in Proverbs 26:23-26, “Burning lips and a wicked heart are like a potsherd covered with silver dross.[24] He that hateth dissembleth with his lips, and layeth up deceit within him;[25] When he speaketh fair, believe him not: for there are seven abominations in his heart.[26] Whose hatred is covered by deceit, his wickedness shall be shewed before the whole congregation.” Burning lips and a wicked heart go together. To have burning lips means that your words are hot. They are caustic. They come out with passion in order to attack others. Why would anyone use such words against his fellowman? The answer is given in verse 24: hatred. Such a person does not have mercy, and such a person does not have love. He has hatred. He also has deceit. A person with hatred will plan and scheme in order to harm you. That is why it says in verse 25, “When he speaketh fair, believe him not.” There are a number of dangers to look out for in the world. One of those dangers has to do with deceitful people who will lie to you in order to trick you and fool you. According to verse 26, they are so good at deceiving that they even know how to hide the fact that they really hate you: “Whose hatred is covered by deceit…” Obviously, such people are really dangerous and cause a lot of harm. Thank God that we have Jesus as our Savior and His goodness is stronger than any evil.

The Bible says in Proverbs 26:27, “Whoso diggeth a pit shall fall therein: and he that rolleth a stone, it will return upon him.” This verse is about the law of consequences. When you throw a rubber ball against a wall, it comes right back at you. As it says in the New Testament in Galatians 6:7, “Be not deceived; God is not mocked. For whatsoever a man soweth that shall he also reap.”

The Bible says in Proverbs 26:28, “A lying tongue hateth those that are afflicted by it; and a flattering mouth worketh ruin.” Notice the three words that are associated with each other in this verse: lying, hating, and flattering. One of the reasons that people lie is because of hatred. If someone hates you, they will probably lie about you. Flattering is a type of lying because when you flatter someone, you say something that you know is not true in order to gain their favor.

The Bible says in Proverbs 27:1, “Boast not thyself of tomorrow; for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth.” Procrastination is a great fault that afflicts many people. You have an opportunity today to do something, but that does not mean that you will have that same opportunity tomorrow. I have heard attributed to Benjamin Franklin the saying: “Opportunity knocks once.” Seize the day. Take advantage of your opportunities at once. This principle is especially seen in the spiritual opportunity to accept Christ as your Savior. A person gets saved when Jesus passes their way and touches their heart by the Spirit, if that person takes advantage of the opportunity and calls on the name of the Lord. If your answer is always, “Tomorrow I will do it,” one of these days tomorrow will never come, and your soul will be lost forever. Turn to Christ today while He is near and touching your heart.

The Bible says in Proverbs 27:2, “Let another man praise thee, and not thine own mouth; a stranger and not thine own lips.” We need to be humble. We should be humble naturally, but we are not. Human nature tends to pride and self-advancing. But we certainly have every reason to be humble. We are all sinners. We have all failed in one way or another. Every good thing that has happened to us is a gift from God, and we deserved none of it. It was all by the grace of God. We cannot get to heaven on our own efforts: we are totally dependent upon Jesus and what He did for us on the cross of Calvary. All of these truths and more is probably why it is so unseemly when someone praises himself or herself. Let other people praise you if they want to, but do not praise yourself. Praise God and the name of Christ.

The Bible says in Proverbs 27:3, “A stone is heavy, and the sand weighty; but a fool’s wrath is heavier than them both.” A fool will mess up a lot of things. They do not even know when to be angry or how to be angry. A fool will easily be controlled by anger, and man’s anger does a lot of harm. One of the many benefits of coming to know Jesus as your Savior is that you will have the possibility of controlling your anger. Christians are told that if you walk in the Spirit, you shall not fulfill the lusts of the flesh. Christians are reminded in James 1:20, “For the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God.”

The Bible says in Proverbs 27:4, “Wrath is cruel, and anger is outrageous; but who is able to stand before envy?” Many things can be said about how harmful anger can be. This verse says that envy is worse than anger. Envy comes from breaking the commandment: “Thou shalt not covet.” If we loved our neighbor, we would be very happy when he has some good thing happen to him or her. We should rejoice at other people’s successes and blessings. But when a person is overcome by envy, they will despise, and lust, and plot, and gossip. They will sin often and greatly because of envy.

The Bible says in Proverbs 27:5, “Open rebuke is better than secret love.” This is a verse about honesty and openness. Part of life is to know other people. You must keep your distance from the wicked ones except as the Lord leads in your witness for Christ. One of the goals in life is to be honest and to know the honest and true attitude that anyone has. The reason that open rebuke is better than secret love is because truth is so very important. If you know the truth, you can adjust to it by the grace of God. But if you think something is true when it is not, you are deceived and you will make the wrong decisions concerning that person.

The Bible says in Proverbs 27:6, “Faithful are the wounds of a friend; but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful.” If someone is a true friend, they have your best interest at heart. If such a friend tells you something that you need to know that is painful to you, that pain is good pain. God does that same thing for us when He touches our conscience about something. If someone is you enemy, even their fake show of affection has a deceitful purpose. The greatest example of this was Judas when he betrayed Christ with a kiss in the Garden of Gethsemane.

The Bible says in Proverbs 27:7, “The full soul loatheth an honeycomb; but to the hungry soul every bitter thing is sweet.” This is a verse that is actually teaching the importance of desire and heart. If you are hungry, that is when you put in an effort to get something, and that is when you desire to fulfil that hunger. It is also when you appreciate what you have. Maybe that is one of the reasons that God does not give you what you want right now. After a period of hunger and hope and planning and praying, then maybe you will learn to appreciate and be thankful for what God does for you.

The Bible says in Proverbs 27:8, “As a bird that wandereth from her nest, so is a man that wandereth from his place.” What happens to a bird that wanders from its nest? Usually it dies. You need to know where you are supposed to be, and you need to make sure that is where you go. You need to know whose arms you should be holding: those of your wife. If you follow Jesus, you will be on the straight and narrow path that is God’s will.

The Bible says in Proverbs 27:9, “Ointment and perfume rejoice the heart; so doth the sweetness of a man’s friend by hearty counsel.” Of course, this verse is telling us the importance of having a good friend. If you are married, your husband or wife should be your lover and your friend. If you know Jesus as Savior, He is your best friend. Jesus said in John 15:15, “Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you.”

The Bible says in Proverbs 27:10, “Thine own friend, and thy father's friend, forsake not; neither go into thy brother's house in the day of thy calamity: for better is a neighbour that is near than a brother far off.” This verse has a very practical truth about how to treat friends. Always be loyal and faithful to a friend. Everyone makes mistakes, but your loyalty to your friend must overcome any mistake that one of your friends makes. For someone to be your friend, they must know that you will be there for them in their time of need. They will need a friend when others are attacking and criticizing them.

This verse also talks about avoiding going “into thy brother's house.” Everyone needs their own space. Relatives should learn not to take advantage of other relatives, even when they are in need. You might have a calamity that you are facing, but there is more than one way to handle that calamity. The first thing that comes to your mind might not be the best way. Is there something else that you can do instead of moving in with a brother?

The Bible says in Proverbs 27:11, “My son, be wise, and make my heart glad, that I may answer him that reproacheth me.” This verse is one of many in the book of Proverbs that shows a father making a plea and a request to his son. It needs to be a request and not an order because the son will eventually make his own decisions in life just like everyone else. Notice the phrase “make my heart glad.” The greatest sorrow in life for a parent can be when their children go the wrong way, but the greatest joy is when a son or daughter becomes “wise.” There are a lot of fools in the world. They are fools if they choose evil instead of good. They are fools if they reject Jesus.

The Bible says in Proverbs 27:12, “A prudent man forseeth the evil, and hideth himself; but the simple pass on and are punished.” In order to see that evil is coming your way, you must have wisdom, and the understanding of the difference between good and evil. In order to see that evil is coming your way, you must be watchful. You must be on the lookout and be careful. You must fear doing evil because you know there will be consequences. A prudent person who “forseeth the evil” “hideth himself.” The way to avoid temptation is to not be in the place of temptation. If some evil people are going to temp you to join in with the evil they are doing, then avoid them.

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