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Life-Giving Wisdom or Life Destroying Ignorance

Proverbs 10:11 Updated American Standard Version (UASV)
¹¹The mouth of the righteous is a fountain of life,
but the mouth of the wicked conceals violence.

The mouth of the righteous is a fountain of life: Words from the mouth of the righteous (good, honest, upright person) refer to words and thoughts, which can heal. They can refresh, enliven, and inspire a person. They can also lead to eternal life. The fountain of life reminds us of the tree of life back in 3:18.

Wisdom is “a fountain of life to one who has it,” in that wisdom will supply us with that which we require, not only to enjoy our present life but also to obtain eternal life (John 3:16; 17:3), that is, accurate knowledge of God and the insight and good sense to be obedient to his commands. – Proverbs 3:18; 16:22.

but the mouth of the wicked conceals violence: Words from the mouth of the wicked (bad, dishonest, unrighteous, fallen person) can hurt. They can depress, destroy, discourage, damage, and dishearten a person. They can tear him down. They can also lead to eternal destruction, as Paul spoke of in 2 Thessalonians 1:9.

If our words are to contain life-giving wisdom instead of life-destroying ignorance, we must meditate on the knowledge of God. (2:5) We must empty our mind of the old way of thinking, removing the old person, to make room for our new way of thinking, taking on the mind of Christ. Then, we must give time for the new biblical worldview to filter in through our meditation on God’s Word. If we do not keep our thoughts growing in the Word of God, changing our old fleshly worldview, they become stagnant and stale.

If we allow all of the worldly waste and satanic propaganda to fill our minds, we will have no room for godly thinking. Therefore, it is with the mind as it is with the bountiful source of well water: if we are always dipping the water out of the well, it goes dry. However, if we never dip the water out, it becomes stale. There is a time for dipping the water out; there is a time for seeping the water in. There is the right time to speak and a perfect time to hold back our words, a time to ponder and a time to share our words, a time to reason and reflect, and a time to share the words of what you have been thinking. If we are to share first, we must receive. We must take in life-saving knowledge before we can give out life-saving knowledge. We must fill our minds with the inspired, inerrant Word before we can unload the treasures of the knowledge of God, and we must unload before we can fill again. It is an ongoing process of both getting and giving, not just one or the other. We need to keep the waters of biblical truth running into our minds, meditatively through and out of our mouths.