My dear readers,

Do You Have Foolish Lips?

Proverbs 10:18: “He that hideth hatred with lying lips, and he that uttereth a slander, is a fool.”

A fool here does not refer to a person who is IQ lacking. He might have the highest IQ on earth and yet be called a fool by God. God came to save sinners whom He loves. He sent His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ to die on the cross to save sinners from their sins, death and hell. Why then would He call some sinners “fools”? There must be a very good reason for Him to do so. Everything He does and says in the Bible is for the good of mankind!

God calls someone a fool for the following three reasons, based upon Proverbs 10:18:

He Hides – Can anyone really hide from God? The fool hides his hatred thinking that no one knows. Not all hatred is wrong or sinful. For example, David confessed before the LORD of his perfect hatred for God's enemies in Psalm 139:19-22: “Surely thou wilt slay the wicked, O God: depart from me therefore, ye bloody men. For they speak against thee wickedly, and thine enemies take thy name in vain. Do not I hate them, O LORD, that hate thee? and am not I grieved with those that rise up against thee? I hate them with perfect hatred: I count them mine enemies.” This is righteous hatred that every believer ought to experience in this life of battle for the LORD. But the hatred used in Proverbs 10:18 is the sinful kind. It is destructive to all. Hatred usually resides in the heart. Unless it is expressed by words or spiteful actions, no one will know. But God knows. If hatred, including righteous hatred, is not controlled or gotten rid of before speaking of acting, sin will be the inevitable result as seen in Proverbs 10:18.

Some of the reasons why hatred is hidden include personal survival. The employee hates his boss and holds it in his heart as he cannot afford to lose his job. A victim of bullying hates his life and the bullies, but is helpless to do anything about it for fear of greater hurt. The wife is beaten by her husband, but is too ashamed to make it public. She bottles up her hatred of her life and self for allowing the beating to perpetuate. The object of hatred is not limited to people, but easily includes activities and authorities that constrain. The result is to lie to self and others.

He Lies – All lies are sinful in the eyes of the LORD. There is no such thing as a white or black lie. Lies characterise the sinful nature of sinful man. These are the children of the devil who is the father of lies. But as children of the God who cannot lie, Christians must not lie under all circumstances. This is one of the main hallmarks of a child of God. Telling lies is part and parcel of an unbeliever’s life because it is a key attribute of the depraved nature of sinful man. Forms of lying include hypocrisy (i.e. pretending to be someone that he is not), deceptions (i.e. the manipulation of facts and figures toward a pre-determined result for personal gain or the hurt of others), fraud, duplicity, fakery, dissimulation, guile, cunningness, wiliness, crookedness and all forms of half-truths. These are all committed by the people of the world to survive and gain as much out of life and others as possible. The survival of the fittest involves lying as they reason that if they do not lie first, they will be lied to later.

God knows every lie uttered. He knows every liar every moment of the day and night. What makes lying worse is that the liar of Proverbs 10:17 uses his lies to mask his hatred. He hates the person like poison but he smiles and laughs and befriends that person as if he really cares. He socializes with him and attends all his invitations, but with a venomous hatred in his heart! He will flatter. He will sing songs of praise in front of him and others. He attends Bible Studies with him and worships side by side as if they are the best of friends. But all this while, the hatred has been simmering like a burning fire. No one can see through the facade except the LORD. The LORD calls him a fool!

He slanders – Behind the back of the person he hates (the victim), he slanders. He will present an evil report to as many people as possible. He runs him down with half-truths. The hope is to destroy his character and holy witness. When more and more people have a low view of the victim, they will leave him. His ministry will be destroyed. The high view that others used to have of him is now evaporating into thin air. Since the Book of Proverbs is a spiritual Book for God’s people, we have to apply this to the spiritual realm. If the victim leads a Bible Study, the attendance will decrease. If he is a pastor, members and visitors will leave the church. If possible, the slanderer might even worm his way into the hearts of the victim’s family. Under the guise of a loving friend of the family, he will whisper words of discord into their ears, spawning the evil fruit of conflict and strife in the victim’s home. The peace in almost every aspect of his life will be replaced by discontentment and schism.

This will devastate his victim’s walk with the LORD. The victim will become despondent and be lacklustre in his prayer and worship, in the reading and study of God's Word, and his desire to be a holy witness for Christ will slumber. The fool who slanders thinks that the LORD is not aware of his slandering. The fool will surely be judged by the LORD. The LORD’s warning to such a fool is very clear. Proverbs 6:12-19: “A naughty person, a wicked man, walketh with a froward mouth. He winketh with his eyes, he speaketh with his feet, he teacheth with his fingers; Frowardness is in his heart, he deviseth mischief continually; he soweth discord. Therefore shall his calamity come suddenly; suddenly shall he be broken without remedy. These six things doth the LORD hate: yea, seven are an abomination unto him: A proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, An heart that deviseth wicked imaginations, feet that be swift in running to mischief, A false witness that speaketh lies, and he that soweth discord among brethren.”

Conclusion - He is a spiritual fool. This is the worst kind of fool, for he commits his foolish acts in God's house and among God's children. He thinks that God does not know his hateful heart. He hides it instead of getting rid of it. He lies, ignorantly believing that God is not omniscient and omnipresent and does not know! There is nothing that man speaks that God does not hear. He is the God who cannot lie and will always judge those who lie. He slanders thinking that God does not know the destructive nature of his words as they slaughter the name of Christ in the lives of God's children. He will be severely punished by God like the Old Serpent in the Garden of Eden who slandered the LORD. His words are like a sword dripping with the blood of the saints. He commits these sins in the church and in the midst of God's people. He is a spiritual fool because Christ is the Head of the church and His disciples belong to Him as He has redeemed them with His precious blood. To attack them with deadly slanders and lies is to attack the LORD Himself! Every believer must get rid of foolish lips! May God keep His children from having foolish lips.