Proverbs 4:20–24 (ESV) 20 My son, be attentive to my words; incline your ear to my sayings. 21 Let them not escape from your sight; keep them within your heart. 22 For they are life to those who find them, and healing to all their flesh. 23 Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life. 24 Put away from you crooked speech, and put devious talk far from you.
Notice how Solomon repeatedly impresses the need for wisdom upon his son: “Be attentive… incline your ear…let them not escape…keep them….” I wonder if his son thought, “Ok, ok, Dad. I get it. You don’t have to keep repeating yourself.” I don’t know about you, but I leak. I’m so prone to forgetfulness. Routines and reminders help me. I recently began using an app to help me track my vehicle’s maintenance schedule. I need that. I don’t want big repairs to happen because I fail to keep up with regular maintenance.
Solomon isn’t telling his son to download a wisdom app and to set reminders. But think of that as an example. Imagine having a wisdom app on your phone that could be running in the background during your day. You come across a situation that requires godly wisdom, and your phone dings. You look at it and find a reminder that says, “Remember these words from the Lord….” It tells you exactly what you need in that moment. Unfortunately, there’s no app for that.
However, the Holy Spirit is better than any app. When you are attentive to wisdom, when you incline your heart toward knowledge, when you keep it before you and in your heart, the Spirit will “ding” in your heart and remind you of the wisdom of God you have hidden away. When you apply godly wisdom in that situation, you find (v. 22) life and healing to your flesh.
Verse 23 emphasizes the importance of guarding your heart (what “keep your heart” means). Your heart is like a well. What goes in comes out. We have to be careful about what sort of pesticides and insecticides we spray. We can’t just pour out any liquid onto the ground. Some liquids have to be recycled or handled differently. If we don’t carefully consider what liquids we put on the ground, we may discover that the well water we love so much is now contaminated. Instead of giving us life, the water contributes to our death. And we may not discover the contamination for a while. But by then it could be too late. The damage is already done.
Crooked speech and devious talk can contaminate the good well water of the heart. That’s why Solomon tells his son to put it away from him. Friend, pursue God’s wisdom. Guard your heart. Keep it with all vigilance. Your life depends on it.