Proverbs 6: 12-15
“A worthless person, a wicked man, walks with a perverse mouth; He winks with his eyes, he shuffles his feet, he points with his fingers; perversity is in his heart. He devises evil continually; he sows discord. Therefore his calamity shall come suddenly; suddenly he shall be broken without remedy.”
We do not “walk” with our mouths, we walk with our feet. Thus it is evident that the phraseology utilized here in Proverbs 6:12 is an idiom. As such, it does give a very clear picture of a biblical law that is so often ignored. The law that death and life are in the power of the tongue {Proverbs 18:21}. I refer to this principle as a law because it transcends restricted application to only those who are aware of it, it applies every human- like gravity. A “perverse mouth” is a mouth that is fraudulent, crooked, or deceitful. In other words this mouth goes about “fluffing” the truth. For example, used car sales men often engaged perverse speech in order to make sales. Walking with any type of mouth should be understood to mean that whatever heart condition drives the words spoken creates the path the person is to walk on moving forward in their lives. It is not necessarily the actual words themselves that come to pass, but the heart condition behind them. Therefore, the idiom “walks with a perverse mouth” means that this person’s perverse speech creates a perverse {fraudulent, not realistic, crooked, and deceitful -or lying} path. To be more clear, it is the intent that creates the path, not the words themselves. There are several scriptures that bear witness to this.
First, as aforementioned, Proverbs 18:21 in its entirety states:
“Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those that love it will eat its fruit.”
Mark 11:23-
" For verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith."
Psalms 116:10
“ I believed; therefore I spoke, "I am greatly afflicted.”
Proverbs 6:14 {a}
“Perversity is in his heart…”
The principle, as expressed in Proverbs 16:23 is that the heart teaches the mouth what to say. This is what Jesus meant when He said that “out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks.” Therefore, when what is in the heart does not align with the intent of the heart, the world created is not solid. It is a facade and cannot be relied upon to bear the weight of a human life. Moreover, Proverbs 6:15 indicates that a person who “walks with a perverse mouth” creates a “paper mâché “ path if you will and when they begin to step out upon it, it crumbles. They will be broken without remedy because they will have nothing left fix. There will be nothing salvageable of their lives whatever.
When Was about 19, I was walking through a shopping mall. In the window of one of the department stores I saw window display of a bathtub and various bathing items. This bathtub I knew was not for sale, but I wanted to buy it anyway. It was the most beautiful I had ever seen. It was a clawfoot, and on either end there were large angels whose wings made up the sides of the tub. I quickly went into the store to inquire after a staff member As to how to purchase the tub. To my great joy I was told that I could buy it but then the staff member asked me a strange question - or so I thought. She asked my intention for the tub- what was I going to do with it? Why I was going to bathe in it of course! Upon hearing my response, she quickly informed me that I could not bathe in it. For if I did, the tub would disintegrate - it was made entirely of paper mâché! This tub is what I think of when I think of those whose heart intents do not coincide with the words they speak. They may think they have something solid underneath them when they need it but under the pressure’s real life, their foundation will turn to mush!!! What is even more astounding than this is that they are painfully unaware of the fault in their construction. They believe they are scamming others and making their own lives better when all of the while they are building paper mâché. Their calamity comes suddenly, and they are caught completely off guard!!
One final thought. Because our study verse begins with the phrase “ worthless person, a wicked man” we tend think that these actions do not apply or cannot apply to us. After all, we are not worthless nor wicked. Sometimes - most times- God will point out what the wicked do not so that we can get into judgement about them, which is exactly what we do, but so that we can see the contrast in how they behave and how we are supposed to behave. It is covert in its instruction to us in that God wishes us to be wise enough to say, “if that is what a worthless person does, I will do the opposite” !
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