Proverbs 18:4

The words of a man’s mouth are as deep waters, and the wellspring of wisdom as a flowing brook.

Animals do not speak, and they do not build things or have godly families. They live in holes and leave their defecations wherever they happen to be. They do not plan for a rainy day, and are therefore subject to the conditions of their immediate environment.

But sometimes humans are not much different from animals. Left to themselves, without any true wisdom from God and His revelation, men are reduced to primitive, ungodly conditions. The difference between animals and humans consists mainly in what thoughts they think and the words they speak. Look around you, and what do you see? You see buildings, automobiles, churches, family reunions, people dressed in beautiful clothes, marriages that last for sixty years, and governments that maintain some order in a society where sinful people live together and do business with each other. None of these things would exist without wisdom and the ability to communicate that wisdom through powerful things called “words.”

Almost every person on earth will speak words and listen to words throughout his lifetime. Not all words spoken and received are fountains of pure water. Sometimes they pour out of the mouths of men like gurgling, noxious, toxic waste. After saturating their minds and ears with these ideas and words, those words will prepare people for eternal fire. Never underestimate the power of words spoken, whether they issue from a father in family devotions, a mother working in the kitchen, or a pastor who preaches from a pulpit.

Proverbs 18:5

 It is not good to accept the person of the wicked, to overthrow the righteous in judgment.

At least three times thus far, this lesson has been repeated. But one of the goals of the book of Proverbs is to give wisdom to kings, and it is the responsibility of the civil magistrate to establish order in a community.

Perhaps one of the most damaging and destructive programs ever instituted against a nation in the history of the world came under the president Lyndon B. Johnson when in the 1960’s he instituted a humanist initiative called “The Great Society.” Among the families living in the inner city at that time, less than 20% of the children were born without fathers. Today the rate exceeds 70%! Prior to 1960, there were few government subsidies for irresponsible and immoral people who adopted a fornicating lifestyle. Since that time, the United States government has succeeded in completely destroying the institution of the family, especially with “minority groups” who live in the inner city. By subsidizing fornication, the government encourages more fornication, and the result is the unraveling of the social fabric of the nation.

If Lyndon B. Johnson had carefully read this verse, he would have known it is not a good thing at all for a civil leader to favor the wicked in their sin. The Bible forbids favoring the poor in judgment or in taxation (Ex. 30:15), and favoring fornicators in their sin is even worse. He may have thought he was doing a good thing, but America will suffer the consequences of these unwise policies for at least another century.

Family Discussion Questions:

1. How can words be characterized as “deep waters” or “flowing brooks”? What are some of the effects of toxic words?

2. What kind of words do we listen to, and how have these words helped or hurt our family?

3. Compare two homes or two countries, and show how words really make a difference in how people live.

4. What was it about the “Great Society” that produced such devastation in the inner cities in America?