Proverbs 4:24 “put away from you crooked speech, and put devious talk far from you”

 

Not too long after I became a Christian, the young pastor from the church I had joined offered to take me fishing. At that time I really knew very little about fishing and was inexperienced.

He worked shifts at a local business as well as being the pastor, but as he was on shift work he often had days off during the week. So on a Wednesday in the autumn we arranged to go up to a loch around sixty kilometres from where we lived and have a day fishing together.

The weather was changeable, but not too bad, so out we went in a small wooden boat and up the loch to the far side. We drifted across bays (using a drogue) and he taught me to fly fish, helping with knots and tangles. I would get excited with a good cast, and especially when I cast the line over a spot where we had seen a recent fish rise.

I found myself loving the experience, totally lost in the fishing, the concentration, and the physical effort required. We talked at times and he helped me understand the bible, more by asking me great questions than by giving any direct answers. I really enjoyed these times together.

On this day, we were motoring further up the loch when the weather changed and a big squall blew up, fierce winds were upon us and the waves trebled in size in minutes. Up and down we went, one second you could see the surrounding mountains, the next all you could see were large waves on both sides. It was getting very cold too.

Then the engine stopped, just cut out and died. It was probably some dirt in the fuel so the carburettor needed a cleanout. We took it apart, now drifting side on to the waves, in the middle of the loch, with no engine.

I was holding a few tiny screws and springs in my freezing cold hand, praying that I would not drop them as the pastor worked on repairing the engine.

Staring out at the distant shoreline I had a moment of revelation for me. I realised that if we did not get back to shore, and if this was it, then it would do me no good to be with the pastor. In heaven I would not be able to say, “ah, but I was with the pastor fishing when I died!’ It would actually need to be about just me and my relationship with God.

I think as a Christian for only a few weeks at that time, this was an important moment for me. Obviously, we did get back to shore. I left some of my old thinking out there on the water though.

 

 

KNOWLEDGE

As we think back to the preceding scripture we realise that what we allow into our heart, appears on our lips, and flows from our mouth. If we have allowed the offence to set up home in our heart, then if we listen to our own conversation we will hear offence talking to others. If we are harbouring hurt in our hearts, then we will talk about our hurts to others. If we shelter suspicion in our hearts then we will share our suspects with others.

We hear a call in this scripture, a call to recognition, and call to rejection, and a call to repentance.

Recognise what is coming from your mouth, start to reject anything that is not wholesome, and allow your heart to be touched and softened by God so that through his kindness we can receive the gift of repentance and our hearts can be washed clean. Allow a flow of purity to emerge afresh from the deeper places of our lives.

Now recognise the enemy wants you to see everything that’s wrong with your brothers and sisters in Christ, and then he wants you not to make any effort to go to them and to talk these things through, but rather that you will sit and become offended, hurt, confused, and eventually orphaned and bitter.

Matt 18:15 – If your brother or sister sins, go and point out their fault, just between the two of you. If they listen to you, you have won them over.

Matt 5:23-24 – Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother or sister has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar. First, go and be reconciled to them; then come and offer your gift.

If we are offended against, the responsibility lies with us to act, if we have offended others, the responsibility lies with us to act – either way – if we know we are offended, the bible places the responsibility to us to act – and tells us to act in love and peace.

This book can help – https://www.bookdepository.com/Handling-Difficult-People-John-Townsend/9781404175679?ref=grid-view&qid=1570995282902&sr=1-2

Go in gentleness, with the fruit of the Spirit and a heart that is open and loving – go with genuine deep-rooted concern and compassion for the other person at the centre of your thoughts and actions.

And once you have done everything you can reasonably do, leave it on the altar with God.

 

 

UNDERSTANDING

Let’s pick one word from this verse to look closer at and see if that can help us gain a deeper insight into how God would love us to live?

The word for “far” in Hebrew is pronounced “rahaq”, and this word appears 59 times in the Old Testament. It is translated into the English words, way off; distance; far; away; aloof; shun; remove; refrain; snapped; enlarged; and, extended. For our understanding of verse 24, there is an element of avoidance, almost to stand aloof from.

WISDOM: If you recorded your inner conversation on an average day and listened to it later, how would you feel?

 

 

STRENGTHS THOUGHT: Achiever and Intellection as a Theme Dynamic. Your passion for understanding leads to breakthrough outcomes.

 

 

Allan’s Unauthorised Version – [turn aside from, decline to follow and perverse or corrupt testimony. As far as perverse or crooked language goes, abandon it, send it away to be removed and distant from you.]

 

 

PRAYER: Father, thank you for today. Please help me to guard my speech, that as I look after my heart before you the evidence would be seen in my life and heard in my speech. Thank you, my Father.

 

 

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