Daily Devotionals

Devotional: August 19th

For Reading and Meditation:
     Ecclesiastes 10:12-15

Question: What has stirred up more strife than any other thing in the history of the world? Answer: The tongue! Sometimes when you go for a medical examination the doctor says: "Put out your tongue." Our tongue, Solomon suggests, the little thing we use to frame words, needs examination. Whereas the words of a wise man are gracious, Solomon tells us, the words of a fool consume him. The one who suffers the most consequences in life is the fool, not those he offends. The fool is "consumed" (v. 12). Strong word. It really means to be "swallowed up." The fool is the one who finishes up in difficulty, in police court, or even in prison. He speaks words that lead to his own undoing. Early in my ministry I learned to differentiate between people who are naive or silly and those who are just plain "fools." I learned also not to spend time trying to counsel a fool, but I would give all the time I could to help those who really wanted to be helped. Listen to this: "No one knows what is coming - who can tell him what will happen after him?" (v. 14). Those of you who are parents will, I imagine, have used similar words: "If you keep acting like that there's no telling where you will end up." Then, continues Solomon, fools exhaust themselves by their inefficiency (v. 15). They can't even find their way to town or get from here to there. And it's not a matter of IQ. It is just plain stupidity. Fools are ever learning but never arriving.

O Father, save me, I pray, from having the tongue of a fool. May my words be Your words, coming from thoughts that are Your thoughts. And help me not simply to learn, but to arrive. In Jesus' Name I ask it. Amen.

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