Wisdom-Trek / Creating a Legacy

Welcome to Day 651 of our Wisdom-Trek, and thank you for joining me.

I am Guthrie Chamberlain, Your Guide to Wisdom

Speak Less, Listen More - Proverbs 18

Thank you for joining us for our 5 days per week wisdom and legacy building podcast. Today is Day 651 of our trek, and it is Wisdom Wednesday. Every Wednesday along life’s trails we dig for the nuggets of wisdom that are found within the book of Proverbs. Today we will explore Proverbs 18 from The Voice Translation which will give us a fresh perspective on this book of timeless wisdom.

We are broadcasting from our studio at The Big House in Marietta, Ohio. If you are a regular listener or reader of the Wisdom-Trek Podcast and Journal, you may realize that we are publishing these episodes a couple of days late this week. This is due to an unfortunate and serious accident I had on July 8th. I am chronicling the accident and my subsequent recovery on our Tuesday and Thursday “Wisdom-Nugget” episodes for a couple of weeks. The segments published so far are Day 645, Day-647, and Day-650 if you would like to follow along with my saga of “Life Lessons Learned the Hard Way.”

I think that you will enjoy the story as we all realize that at age 60, there are still some hard lessons about life to be learned. One of the lessons learned is to make sure I follow the surgeon’s advice if I desire complete recovery.

Following advice is the focus of Proverbs 18 as we learn to:

Speak Less, Listen More

This chapter tackles a variety of diverse subjects, but the two repeated themes are listening and speaking. Turns out (surprise, surprise) these two things are related.

As I read through the text look for listening verbs such as “seek,” “hear,” “understand,” “acquire,” and “examine.” Notice anything? (Hint: The more you listen, the wiser you are.) Now, look through the text for speaking nouns such as “lips,” “mouth,” and “tongue.” We discover a compelling portrait of the fool — a person who hates to listen but loves to talk.

However, talking is not all bad! Look at verses 20 through 21. The wise man does not speak in haste; his words are nourishing. There is a beautiful metaphor in there: The fruit of a man’s mouth satisfies. Fruit cannot be produced quickly but is cultivated through time and care. Our words can be of great benefit, but only through the careful cultivation of listening (see verse 13).

As you move through these sayings of wisdom, meditate on how you can nourish relationships in your life by listening and speaking with care.Listen intently as I read Proverbs 18.

1 Whoever pulls away from others to focus solely on his own desires

disregards any sense of sound judgment.

2 A fool never delights in true knowledge

but only wants to express what’s on his mind.

3 When wrongdoers arrive, disgrace is right there with them,

for shame is the companion of dishonor.

4 Words bubble up from waters deep within a person;

a stream gushes from the fountain of wisdom.

5 It is wrong for a judge to show partiality to the guilty

or to rob the innocent of justice.

6 When a fool’s lips move, a fight breaks out;

it’s as if his mouth is begging for a beating.

7 The mouths of fools are their destruction,

and their lips entrap their very souls.

8 Whispered gossip is like a delicious first course:

it is devoured with pleasure and penetrates deeply.

9 Those who slack off at work

are no different from vandals.

10 The Eternal is known to be like a sturdy watchtower;

those who do right flee to Him for protection.

11 The rich think their wealth is their sturdy fortress;

they imagine it to be an invincible wall of security.

12 A proud heart precedes destruction,