March 6 ▪ Day 65

Scripture Readings

Proverbs 12:18
Hosea 13–14
II Corinthians 5–6
Psalms 65

Verse Focus (Proverbs 12:18)

The words of the reckless pierce like swords,
     but the tongue of the wise brings healing.

Meditation

Today’s proverb holds a special place in my heart. As I memorized this verse when I was in high school, the NIV translation said, “Reckless words pierce like a sword, but the tongue of the wise brings healing.” Wow! This was one the first proverbs that really captured me. I memorized it without even intending to — the Scripture was just so powerful it stuck in my mind.

Believe it or not, I used to hate reading the book of Proverbs. Now, as you can tell, it’s one of my favorites. But, except for the first nine chapters, there isn’t really much of a narrative to the book of Proverbs. It’s just a collection of pithy statements, one right after another. Sometimes there will be a bit of a theme going on, but each verse is like its own universe. Even the seemingly endless genealogies in the Old Testament had more of a narrative going for them than your average chapter in Proverbs! So I really struggled when I had to read something in Proverbs. But, gradually, I began to see the beauty in all these little gems. (It helps if you take it a little bit at a time, rather than in chapter-size chunks.) So, with the help of verses like today’s proverb, I eventually became the biggest fan of this particular book in the Bible.

I love reading. And as someone gifted in writing, words are my stock in trade. So it’s not too surprising that a proverb about the power of language should be one of the first proverbs to really resonate with me. It hit with me force, too — no mulling needed, no meditation required. Just instant impact. Also instant submission — I knew immediately that I wanted to have the tongue of the wise.

You may not feel the same instant connection to this proverb that I felt. That’s okay (God will get you through another one, just you wait!). And just because I didn’t feel the need to meditate further on this proverb doesn’t mean I won’t benefit from doing so. So I’ve been thinking a bit more about this proverb today.

Reckless words can be reckless for two different reasons. It can be reckless because of the content of your words. Or it can be reckless because of your speedy and ill-considered response. The dictionary says that “reckless” means “without thinking or caring about the consequences of an action.” Another Bible translation uses the word “rash” instead of “reckless.” However, the definition for “rash” is pretty much identical to that of reckless — “displaying or proceeding from a lack of careful consideration of the possible consequences of an action.”

Reckless words don’t care if they hurt someone. They don’t care how others will feel or how they might react. Reckless words cut. Worse, there’s nothing to say that this sword will be used with any skill — it might reach the intended target, or it might cause a lot of collateral damage along the way. (In fact, the sword created by reckless words is nothing like the sword of Scripture as described in Hebrews 4:12!)

Who doesn’t want to have words of healing? Perhaps it was your mother. Your grandfather. Maybe it was the pastor in the church you used to go to. A best friend. We all know people that seem to have the knack of knowing exactly the right thing to say. We know people whose words bring us comfort. People who can discern what it is that we need to hear, who can help us find clarity and peace. We know what the tongue of the wise sounds like.

The trick, of course, is learning how to become the person who has a wise tongue. And Scripture is ready to tell us the answer to that one, too. The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom (Proverbs 9:10).

Father God, thank you for your Scripture. Thank you for teaching us how important it is to control our words. May we not speak recklessly; may we develop the tongue of the wise. Please be in my thinking, my speaking, and my writing, today and every day, in Christ Jesus, Amen.

Ephraim has gone astray and because of the accumulation of sin, he will disappear like the “morning mist” or like “smoke” (v. 3). The LORD God brought Israel out of Egypt and through the wilderness. He cared for Israel’s every need — and yet once they were satisfied, the people forgot God. They will reap the consequences of their sin. “I will destroy you,” says the LORD (v. 9). He promises to become like a lion or a wild beast, devouring and mangling Israel. Hosea chapter 13 ends with the declaration that “Samaria shall bear her guilt, because she has rebelled against her God.” Death and destruction for man, woman, and child.

It is a sobering chapter, perhaps worse for us because we know this really happened. When the Israelites heard Hosea speak this prophecy, did they believe him? Did he not seem like just a madman? Israel was prosperous. They had comfortable lives. They engaged in international trade. Sure, they worshiped idols — but in the back of their minds God was their failsafe. How could He possibly hurt them?

I see such strong parallels between our society and that of the Israelites of the northern kingdom. Ephraim was doubly blessed — redeemed by the Creator of the universe, delivered out of slavery and into the Promised Land, prosperous and successful. They were comfortable in their place as God’s chosen people. Their history told them that God favored them — how could He possibly ever turn against them? God displayed His wrath to Israel’s enemies, but not to His own people.

Like Ephraim, we are a nation that was once founded on God. We are prosperous. Proud of our democracy and comfortable in our position internationally. Confident of God’s blessing on this land. We, too, are comfortable in our faith in a loving God. A God who promises to destroy? Unthinkable. A God who deliberately brings a pandemic? Impossible. If Hosea were preaching to us today, we would dismiss his words as nonsense. We’ve managed to forget who God really is. We think Jesus is all about love and forgiveness — and so he is. But there is also a Judgment Day to come and Jesus is the one who will be on the bench. In our focus on God’s loving nature, we’ve managed to forget that God is also holy and pure and that He cannot abide any form of wickedness. And He will destroy the wicked.

So many of the verses in Hosea chapter 13 and chapter 14 stood out to me. The description of the idols — a reflection of the people’s understanding (13:2). The idol worshipers are actually worshiping “the work of our hands” (14:3). Literally, worshiping their work. Does this not sound like us today?

From Isaiah, we’ve gotten used to God’s declarations: I am the LORD and there is no other. I am the LORD and there is no one besides me. But Hosea 13:4 says, “Besides me there is no savior.”

Hosea 13:6 also gets to me: “They were satisfied, and their heart was proud; therefore they forgot me.”

And what about God’s haunting questions in Hosea 13, verse 14?

Shall I ransom them from the power of Sheol?
Shall I redeem them from Death?
O Death, where are your plagues?
O Sheol, where is your destruction?

Alas, God concludes, “Compassion is hidden from my eyes.”

The closing chapter in Hosea is yet a final plea for Israel to repent and return to the LORD. They have “stumbled” because of their “iniquity” (v. 1). If they will but return to God, He promises to heal their “disloyalty,” to love them and to make them truly fruitful and prosperous. He will protect them.

God declares in verse 8, “I am like an evergreen cypress; your faithfulness comes from me.” Some translations say your “fruitfulness” comes from me. Either way — God is the source of any ability we have to be faithful or productive. We forget that at our peril.

Hosea ends with a warning and a promise:

Those who are wise understand these things;
     those who are discerning know them.
For the ways of the LORD are right,
     and the upright walk in them,
     but transgressors stumble in them.

2 Corinthians 5:10 tells us, “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each of us may receive what is due us for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad.” Even though I know that God is just and holy, my heart is somewhat shocked when I read verses like this. How do I manage to ignore or forget all the Scriptures about Judgment Day? My head knows better, but my spirit would just rather not think about it. And until head knowledge becomes heart knowledge, it simply will not stick with me. That’s why I keep being surprised whenever I read about Christ’s judgment seat.

This chapter, however, is all about what’s going to happen when the kingdom of God is fully revealed. Paul talks about the tension between the now and the not yet. We are mortal. We groan. Our bodies are these frail “jars of clay.” But Paul promises that once our earthly bodies are gone, we will be “clothed” with our heavenly dwelling, mortality “swallowed up by life.” The Holy Spirit is in fact our guarantee of the life to come. We long for this future perfection. We know that we will one day face Christ’s judgment seat. In the meantime, we strive to please the Lord, walking by faith and not by sight.

In the now, our focus is entirely on the ministry of reconciliation. God has entrusted us with the message of the gospel: “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God (v. 21).”

There is so much richness in this one chapter! Each verse is dense with spiritual truths. In prior readings of 2 Corinthians 5, I have been struck by the discussion of the “new creation” or what it means to “walk by faith, not by sight.” Today, when I read this chapter, it was the “ministry of reconciliation” that stood out to me. The challenge and the responsibility to be Christ’s ambassadors — this is not something that just Paul did, nor was it something that only the Corinthians were to do. This is our responsibility and our call as well.

In 2 Corinthians 6:2, Paul says, “See, now is the acceptable time; see, now is the day of salvation!” In the now, while we live on earth, at the present time, at this very moment — this is the time for reconciliation. This is the time of God’s favor. This is the time for people to be saved. There is such an urgency to Paul’s message, if we have ears to hear it.

Too often, however, my heart has been closed to the Spirit’s call. I don’t understand how brief the now really is. I think there’s plenty of time to get around to sharing the gospel. I have a lifetime, after all. And somehow I miss the point that every moment of this lifetime is crucial for reconciliation. Because we always and only have the present moment: the now. If we do not act now, when will we?

Perhaps this is why Paul pleads for the Corinthians to “open wide” their hearts (v. 13). My heart needed to be open to even hear the urgent call to the ministry of reconciliation. My heart needs to be open to the Holy Spirit. I need God to enable me to be faithful and to enable me to even answer this call to ministry.

It is interesting that Paul jumps from the plea to have an open heart to a warning against being yoked together with unbelievers. Clearly, there are some ways in which our hearts can be too open. We are to open our hearts to God and to the body of Christ. We are to be filled with God’s love and compassion — but there are also limits to our relationships with those who are not yet reconciled. Thus, Paul reminds us that we are also called to sanctity: “Touch no unclean thing.”

The inscription to Psalm 65 says, “A Psalm of David. A Song.” I find it interesting that two different words for music are used to describe this psalm. I discovered that the Hebrew word translated as “psalm” actually means “melody.” (We get the word “psalm” from the related Hebrew word for instrumental music — psalms are seen as poems set to music.) So this particular prayer — a thanksgiving for the earth’s bounty — is described as both a melody and a song.

There is a lot to enjoy in today’s psalm. God forgives us when we are “overwhelmed” by our deeds of iniquity (v. 3). God is “the hope of all the ends of the earth and of the farthest seas (v. 5).” He crowns the year with His bounty (v. 11). But it is the second half of verse 8 that gets me every time. Something about this verse just resonates for me. I highlight it almost every time I read it (should I happen to be reading it in a different online translation or in a different Bible), and on two separate occasions I have made verse images to illustrate this text: “Where morning dawns, where evening fades, you call forth songs of joy.” Amen!

Father God, we thank you for your creation — the mountains, the seas, the sunrises and sunsets. There is so much beauty and bounty in this world we live in. And yet we know that we are still a fallen people. Thank you that you do forgive us our transgressions. Thank you that you sent Jesus Christ to become sin for us so that in him we might become righteous. Thank you for giving us the ministry of reconciliation. Please fill us with your Holy Spirit and open our hearts. Help us to truly understand that now is the day of salvation. We pray in Jesus’ name, Amen.