Day 201, Year 1
Forbidding Ourselves from Speaking Evil Words
“If you have been foolish in exalting yourself Or if you have plotted evil, put your hand on your mouth.” (Proverbs 30:32 NASB)
If people have foolish or evil thoughts in their hearts and wish to avoid being further contaminated, they can follow the teaching of today’s verse by covering their mouths with their hands. But curbing the expression of evil thoughts is only the first step. In my opinion, the verse seems to hint that people may plot evil due to self-exaltation, which might even lead them to act foolishly.
To understand how good or bad we are, believers could reflect on the things we have done. How many of them have been wrong? And how many mistakes have we struggled to correct? These instances could reflect our foolishness to a certain extent. Similarly, proud people can identify their own problems from interpersonal interactions. For example, they often feel uncomfortable meeting with other arrogant people. They may also find it difficult to interact with humble people. Proud people mostly feel comfortable only with people with low self-esteem.
In order to remove our foolishness or evil thoughts, we usually need to prevent the expansion of filth from within first. Today’s verse suggests we refrain from speaking foolish or wicked words. This requires us to discern quickly what we want to say. We then should pause, reflect, and determine whether what we want to say is evil, or will make people, including ourselves, more foolish, arrogant, or whether there is any other filth that is about to spread. If so, we need to stop ourselves immediately. Perhaps, some of us also need to ask Jesus for help to effectively prevent the evil thoughts from being expressed.
However, constantly suppressing our foolishness or evil thoughts is not a lasting solution. We really need to thoroughly tackle our inner foolishness, pride, or evil so as to acquire inner peace. We need to ask the Lord Jesus to grant us wisdom, enabling us to understand the source of our foolishness, pride, or evil, including when, where, and from whom we received and kept those problematic thoughts. If we discover that we have unwisely accepted others’ foolish or evil thoughts, we can sincerely confess to the Lord, ask for His forgiveness, and then change ourselves. He will surely help those who pray to Him and reveal the root of the problem to those who seek Him. Finally, if we have done foolish things, we can reflect on what the wrong beliefs and impulses behind them are, and how we can avoid making the same mistakes again with His help.
Reflection questions:
1) What do you think is the key to curbing yourself from expressing foolishness or evil thoughts?
2) Do you have the determination and perseverance to thoroughly eradicate the foolishness, pride, evil thoughts, etc. within you through prayers with the help of the Lord Jesus?