Day 9 – Protect Your Mouth

Today is week 2, day 2, and you might be wondering by now, if not sooner, and definitely later, why are you doing this whole Great Lenten Journey? Is it worth the struggle? Shouldn’t you be building your immune system for the COVID19 virus? As we continue our self-reflection on the Scripture readings this week, take a moment and read today’s reading from Proverbs. What encouragement does it offer to you for your Great Lenten Journey?

Our mouths are at the very crossroads of life. We eat food that keeps us alive, while speaking words that often can kill others. It is rarely our intention to hurt others, but if we’re honest with ourselves, we know that when we let our guard down, it is easier than we would like to hurt others with our words.

The reading below serves as a challenge today. Do your lips guard knowledge? Do your lips speak truth or words smoother than oil? Our Great Lenten Journey, especially in terms of fasting, is meant to train our discipline SO THAT we can be strong enough to “not depart” from God’s word.

Temptation is sweet as honey and smooth as oil, especially when we are focused on pleasure. Be attentive to wisdom God commands us. It is wise to protect our mouth. An now we know why we fast!

My son, be attentive to my wisdom, incline your ear to my understanding; that you may keep discretion, and your lips may guard knowledge. For the lips of a loose woman drip honey, and her speech is smoother than oil; but in the end she is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a two-edged sword. Her feet go down to death; her steps follow the path to Sheol; she does not take heed to the path of life; her ways wander, and she does not know it. And now, O sons, listen to me, and do not depart from the words of my mouth. Keep your way far from her, and do not go near the door of her house; lest you give your honor to others and your years to the merciless; lest strangers take their fill of your strength, and your labors go to the house of an alien; and at the end of your life you groan, when your flesh and body are consumed, and you say, “How I hated discipline, and my heart despised reproof! I did not listen to the voice of my teachers or incline my ear to my instructors. I was at the point of utter ruin in the assembled congregation.” Drink water from your own cistern, flowing water from your own well. (Proverbs 5.1-15)