SELECTIVE HEARING
PROVERBS 17:4
PROVERBS 17:4 NKJ
4 An evildoer gives heed to false lips;
A liar listens eagerly to a spiteful tongue.
OBSERVATION:
This is another one of those very blunt proverbs. The author did not soft-pedal this one. I looked up this verse in other bible translations, and it doesn't get any easier.
The NIV says, "A wicked person listens to deceitful lips; a liar pays attention to a destructive tongue."
The NLT also states this verse plainly. "Wrongdoers eagerly listen to gossip; liars pay close attention to slander." Ouch!
Have you ever wondered why some people seem to attract gossip and slander? It just seems to find them. Yet other people rarely ever share destructive information about others.
According to this proverb, people draw to themselves what is in them.
I know of a young lady who is not in our church but a friend of a friend. It seems as if she is infected with a gossip virus. She spreads bad news quicker than Covid variants and it’s just as bad, spiritually speaking. Why does bad news and gossip come her way? Because she has an ear for it.
I told my friend that the best way to handle this negative input is to offer to pray for the person that is being talked about. Right then, on the spot. After a few of these impromptu prayer meetings, the gossip may stop.
The key here is that we don't need to be a part of deceitful, destructive slanderous words. They are not helping us. Rather they are hurting us and certainly not building us up.
I realize that we can not get away from all the people in our lives who speak gossip and slander. But we don't have to encourage or seek out this bad news. We are new creations, not liars or wrongdoers. So, we are not looking for the worst in others merely to feel good about ourselves.
We can't stop gossip and slander. But we can stop the spread of it. And we can choose to hear things that are good. Because all of us want people to speak well of us. We hope others will believe the best and give us the benefit of the doubt. Because that's what we want, then that is the seed we plant and the words we eagerly hear.
PRAYER:
Lord, forgive me for wanting to hear bad news and gossip. I want to hear about the good in others, not what they are doing wrong.