August 16, 2003

"The wise in heart shall be called prudent: and the sweetness of the lips increaseth learning." Proverbs 16:21

The sweetness, or pleasantness, of our words increases learning.  The Amplified Bible says it this way, " winsome speech increases learning [in both speaker and listener]."  The Hebrew word for ‘learning’ according to the Strong’s Concordance gives the idea that instruction is received whether on the part of the teacher or the listener.

If you want to teach somebody something it doesn’t do much good to use words that are degrading or critical.  By using ‘sweet’ words you will find it easier to instruct someone because they are receptive to you.  How many of us have had teachers in school who didn’t use ‘sweet’ words?  Schoolteachers that degrade or criticize their students or who use harsh words against them will find that their students will not be very receptive to them.  This lack of receptivity creates an environment that is not a good learning environment.

But notice the indication here in both the Amplified Bible and the original Hebrew that indicates that both the teacher and the listener benefit from sweet words.  What does that imply?  That you can learn from your own words.  You don’t just learn from listening to other teachers or researching and studying things out for yourself—although those are also good ways to learn.  But you learn from your own words.

A key here is the atmosphere that the ‘sweet words’ create.  It creates this receptiveness to what is spoken.  For learning to take place the learner must receive what is spoken.  And it doesn’t matter if the learner is the speaker!  You can teach yourself by the words you speak.  The psalmist said:

"How sweet are thy words unto my taste!  Yea, sweeter than honey to my mouth!" Psalm 119:103.

The Words of God are the sweetest words you can speak.  You might argue that Jesus sometimes spoke words that weren’t "sweet."  But you see Jesus always spoke the truth.  Even when He spoke to the religious people of the day and criticized them, what was He criticizing?  Their lack of reception to the Word of God.  They would not receive what Jesus was saying and He, sometimes very blatantly, pointed that out to them.  The truth is always sweet.  The truth is always pleasant because when we submit to it, it will bring life to us.

The Word of God is sweeter than honey to our mouth.  That means that we ‘taste’ them as we speak them.  He didn’t say they are sweet to his ears or his eyes, he said they are sweet to his taste, to his mouth.  We’re supposed to be speaking God’s Word.  We’re supposed to be talking the Word of God.  And as we do and as we receive His Word that is spoken we will receive the instruction we need for whatever our current situation is!