2019 Lenten Devotional 2

In my ministry group meeting earlier this week, I participated in an exercise that included the following verse:

Proverbs 18:20-21, New Living Translation

20 Wise words satisfy like a good meal;
    the right words bring satisfaction.

21 The tongue can bring death or life;
    those who love to talk will reap the consequences.

I went back to the text the following morning in my King James Bible, and found a reference to Proverbs 11:14. Here is the verse (New King James Version this time):

14 Where there is no counsel, the people fall;
But in the multitude of counselors there is safety.

When I go through challenges (and I've got some current ones), I tend to want to isolate, especially if I have a circumstance that I brought on myself. But this particular verse speaks directly to that. Especially on my healing journey, having an inner circle is one of the most important things I've learned one needs to have.

Back to Proverbs 18:20-21. In all honesty, I'm finding I like the New Living Translation less and less, although this was the translation that was handed to me by the leader of the circle I was in. Meditating on the passage, the word "words" jumped out at me. Words matter. The right words matter. And, oftentimes, the right amount of words matter. One thing I've been focusing on in earnest over the last year or so now is practicing being precise, direct, and to the point when I speak. (And when I write.) I'm a storyteller, or to put it another way, a "painter." When I share about something, I want the listener to have the whole picture, the whole context, to properly understand the truth that I'm sharing. Which is fine in a lot of places. BUT... when I've also had a habit of avoiding sharing the truth, the point, I've only recently finally realized that I've given my listener a painting of everything else that is in the background, but not the truth itself. The painting lacks.

I will close by sharing the New King James translation of Proverbs 18:20-21. I do recognize that the King James Version has its fair criticism: archaic language, oftentimes English words chosen that do not quite reflect the original Hebrew or Greek (again, depending on translation), and lack of further explanations on its verses that other translations have provided. But I rather like it, and more specifically the New King James Version, because, as you'll see in the below passage, there is a greater revelation of the connection, the relationship, between the truths listed in the passage.

Proverbs 18:20-21 New King James Version (NKJV)

20 A man’s stomach shall be satisfied from the fruit of his mouth;
From the produce of his lips he shall be filled.

21 Death and life are in the power of the tongue,
And those who love it will eat its fruit.