Undisciplined Ears Produce Unbridled Tongues

“The heart of the prudent acquires knowledge, and the ear of the wise seeks knowledge.” (Proverbs 18:15)

We live in a generation of undisciplined ears. As a culture, we tune our ear to whatever comes our way. Worthless talk, idle gossip, and meaningless conversation about what some Hollywood star said or worse. But here, Solomon is telling us that a wise person has his ear tuned to find knowledge. He is actively seeking to acquire it.

Just like the deer always has its ear tuned to any noise in the forest or glen, even while foraging for food, so we too are considered wise if we have our ear tuned to find and obtain knowledge. When you don’t use discernment to filter out the information coming your way, your mind becomes the city dump. Your heart becomes a compost heap and your mouth becomes a garbage dispenser, spewing out worthless words, information of no value, some if it vile or smelly, all of it devoid of wisdom, leading you into the doldrums, where your sails are up, the sun is shining, but you’re not going anywhere.

Does the Scripture not say, “Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks”? Why then fill your heart with triviality? Why marinate your heart in the language of death? Indeed! Rather, fill your heart with the meditations of the Spirit. Fill your heart with the thoughts of God. Ponder His greatness. Search the unsearchable riches of His word. Seek after knowledge and you will find it. Ask for wisdom and you will receive it. Pursue understanding and it will be yours.

Then your heart will be a wellspring of life. Your mouth a fountain of wisdom, a spring of life, a source of encouragement and a ray of light to a world that desperately needs and wants those things but looks for them in all the wrong places. And when they do, because their ears have become undisciplined and unlearned, their tongue is like an unbridled horse that has never been broken. It is wild. Untamed. Unruly. Unpredictable. They speak with the eloquence of a wild ass in the desert night.

Their words no wiser than the chimpanzee that they claim as their distant forefather. Their words are like nails on the chalkboard of our soul. We hear them clearly but they unsettle our hearts. They leave us unfulfilled and empty. We long for the music of the Spirit, the language of life, the sound of the Heavenly message laden with promise, filled with hope and abounding with grace.

Let us today, tune our ear to the Spirit and seek after the knowledge of God, the mind of Christ, the will of the Father. In so doing, we will be blessed with His presence, filled with His glory and emanate His love, His wisdom and His great kindness with all humility.