Proverbs 15:7 "The lips of the wise disperse knowledge: but the heart of the foolish doeth not so."
To fully appreciate Solomon's proverbs and frankly, all of Scripture, one must know that the Bible focuses on the heart more than on the head. While not ignoring the mind at all, Scripture views the heart of the soul as the center of spiritual activity - good and bad. We tend to think of the heart as the seat of emotional activity and the mind as the seat of intellectual activity. We tend to associate the heart with feelings and the head with thoughts. Though the Bible doesn't disagree with our natural thought process, it credits the heart with more than feelings. It places our feelings as well as our intents and thoughts within the heart. It views the heart as the most active and influential aspect of our being. The condition of the heart makes us who we are. The state of the heart is what determines what we are. The heart is the place where feelings, intents and thoughts collide and where decisions are made. This is why David prayed in Psalm 139:23, "Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts." This is why Matthew recorded what he did about Jesus' encounter with the scribes in Matthew 9:4, which reads "And Jesus knowing their thoughts said, Wherefore think ye evil in your hearts?" In Matthew 15:19, Jesus again said, "For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts."
Solomon is assuming the same position as his father and as the Messiah. By contrasting the lips of the wise with the heart of the foolish, in particular as it pertains to knowledge, he had already concluded that it is the heart of man that is either knowledgeable or ignorant. What we think about is not a matter of intellectual interest or ambition. What we pursue by means of learning is not a matter of mere education. What information we consume is less cerebral and more spiritual. What we learn is a matter of spiritual choice. What information we put in our heart is determined by the ambition and condition of our heart. What gets into our heart is what eventually comes of our mouth.
Jesus taught this truth in Matthew 12 when He said, "O generation of vipers, how can ye, being evil, speak good things? for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh. A good man out of the good treasure of the heart bringeth forth good things: and an evil man out of the evil treasure bringeth forth evil things." Be sure to note that we only put into our hearts what we "treasure," or cherish. Our heads are filled with necessary information to function and survive but our hearts are filled with the information we want and love. Our heads have the information necessary to drive to work, fulfill our duties, pay the bills, make dinner, file our taxes and fix the house. Our hearts however, pursue information about our favorite professional sport or hobby. Our hearts consume and keep information that we find particularly interesting or addictive online. Our hearts contain information that interests and excites us. That information is what we talk about. That content is what gets dispersed from our hearts into our mouths and from there, our lips disperse that content into the ears of others.
What we say is not the focus of this proverb. What we disperse is not the emphasis of the proverb. What we consume is the emphasis of this truthful statement. What we say reveals what we know but more importantly, what we want to know. What our lips speak reveals what our hearts possess and much more importantly, what we want to possess. The wise disperse knowledge because they have knowledge to disperse. The wise have knowledge in their heart to disperse because they put it there. The foolish don't disperse knowledge with their lips because they don't have any knowledge in their heart to disperse to their lips. They don't have any knowledge in their hearts because they don't care about knowledge. They have knowledge in their heads because they have to know how to drive, work, function and interact in society. That knowledge is necessary and so it remains in the head. Because they're foolish however, they have no interest in spiritually meaningful knowledge. Instead, they fill their heart with pleasures, imaginations and meaningless facts about actors, athletes, games, toys, politics, entertainment and about everyone on their social media feed.
To some degree, this proverb does give us a gage to discern whether a person is wise or not. It does teach us that we can know a wise person by the knowledge coming from their lips. But because it only tells us about a fool's heart and because we can't see a person's heart, this proverb is much more about gaging our own heart to discern if we're foolish or wise. Is there any spiritually-meaningful knowledge in our hearts to disperse? Have we filled our heart, not our head, with Biblically-sound knowledge because we truly desire it? What type of information have we memorized? What type of information do we consume on a daily basis? What type of information do we think about when at rest? The answer to these questions will determine who we are or who we are to become. We think about what we want to think about. We learn what we want to learn. We put in our hearts what we want in our hearts and that fact is the heart of the matter.
A.W. Tozer said it so well when he said this: "What we think about when we are free to think about what we will - that is what we are or will soon become...Anyone who wishes to check on his true spiritual condition may do so by noting what his voluntary thoughts have been over the last hours or days. What has he thought about when free to think of what he pleased? Toward what has his inner heart turned when it was free to turn where it would? When the bird of thought was let go, did it fly out like the raven to settle upon floating carcasses or did it like the dove, circle and return again to the ark of God? Such a test is easy to run, and if we are honest with ourselves, we can discover not only what we are but what we are going to become. We’ll soon be the sum of our voluntary thoughts."
Friend, what have you placed in your heart that you naturally and passionately think about? If you're not sure what the answer to that question is, know that it's what you talk about.
Solomon is assuming the same position as his father and as the Messiah. By contrasting the lips of the wise with the heart of the foolish, in particular as it pertains to knowledge, he had already concluded that it is the heart of man that is either knowledgeable or ignorant. What we think about is not a matter of intellectual interest or ambition. What we pursue by means of learning is not a matter of mere education. What information we consume is less cerebral and more spiritual. What we learn is a matter of spiritual choice. What information we put in our heart is determined by the ambition and condition of our heart. What gets into our heart is what eventually comes of our mouth.
Jesus taught this truth in Matthew 12 when He said, "O generation of vipers, how can ye, being evil, speak good things? for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh. A good man out of the good treasure of the heart bringeth forth good things: and an evil man out of the evil treasure bringeth forth evil things." Be sure to note that we only put into our hearts what we "treasure," or cherish. Our heads are filled with necessary information to function and survive but our hearts are filled with the information we want and love. Our heads have the information necessary to drive to work, fulfill our duties, pay the bills, make dinner, file our taxes and fix the house. Our hearts however, pursue information about our favorite professional sport or hobby. Our hearts consume and keep information that we find particularly interesting or addictive online. Our hearts contain information that interests and excites us. That information is what we talk about. That content is what gets dispersed from our hearts into our mouths and from there, our lips disperse that content into the ears of others.
What we say is not the focus of this proverb. What we disperse is not the emphasis of the proverb. What we consume is the emphasis of this truthful statement. What we say reveals what we know but more importantly, what we want to know. What our lips speak reveals what our hearts possess and much more importantly, what we want to possess. The wise disperse knowledge because they have knowledge to disperse. The wise have knowledge in their heart to disperse because they put it there. The foolish don't disperse knowledge with their lips because they don't have any knowledge in their heart to disperse to their lips. They don't have any knowledge in their hearts because they don't care about knowledge. They have knowledge in their heads because they have to know how to drive, work, function and interact in society. That knowledge is necessary and so it remains in the head. Because they're foolish however, they have no interest in spiritually meaningful knowledge. Instead, they fill their heart with pleasures, imaginations and meaningless facts about actors, athletes, games, toys, politics, entertainment and about everyone on their social media feed.
To some degree, this proverb does give us a gage to discern whether a person is wise or not. It does teach us that we can know a wise person by the knowledge coming from their lips. But because it only tells us about a fool's heart and because we can't see a person's heart, this proverb is much more about gaging our own heart to discern if we're foolish or wise. Is there any spiritually-meaningful knowledge in our hearts to disperse? Have we filled our heart, not our head, with Biblically-sound knowledge because we truly desire it? What type of information have we memorized? What type of information do we consume on a daily basis? What type of information do we think about when at rest? The answer to these questions will determine who we are or who we are to become. We think about what we want to think about. We learn what we want to learn. We put in our hearts what we want in our hearts and that fact is the heart of the matter.
A.W. Tozer said it so well when he said this: "What we think about when we are free to think about what we will - that is what we are or will soon become...Anyone who wishes to check on his true spiritual condition may do so by noting what his voluntary thoughts have been over the last hours or days. What has he thought about when free to think of what he pleased? Toward what has his inner heart turned when it was free to turn where it would? When the bird of thought was let go, did it fly out like the raven to settle upon floating carcasses or did it like the dove, circle and return again to the ark of God? Such a test is easy to run, and if we are honest with ourselves, we can discover not only what we are but what we are going to become. We’ll soon be the sum of our voluntary thoughts."
Friend, what have you placed in your heart that you naturally and passionately think about? If you're not sure what the answer to that question is, know that it's what you talk about.
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