A fool despises his father’s instruction, but whoever heeds reproof is prudent. In the house of the righteous there is much treasure, but trouble befalls the income of the wicked. The lips of the wise spread knowledge; not so the hearts of fools. The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the LORD, but the prayer of the upright is acceptable to him. The way of the wicked is an abomination to the LORD, but he loves him who pursues righteousness. (Proverbs 15:5-9 ESV).
Well… I am venturing into dangerous territory today, though Solomon’s instruction in our reading today is very clear. He says, “the lips of the wise spread knowledge; not so the hearts of the fools” (v. 7). The meaning is clear. We are to be truth tellers. Of course, we should measure the telling of the truth with a healthy dose of grace, but telling the truth is a part of walking in wisdom. I’m afraid that is a rare commodity in much of today’s world. I think it would be helpful if every public speaker were required to be measured by a “truth meter.” I wonder how many of them would find their “pants on fire” only moments after the beginning of their diatribe.
It is somewhat amazing that the advent of professional “fact-checking” has risen to the level of our day. This may be a reflection on the need of people to know the truth; though I suspect it has more to do with the level to which many people have made it such a common action to simply lie. Unfortunately, the truth has become something measured by what people want to believe in order to advance their personal agenda.
The charge of Solomon in our reading is that there simply is no room for deceit in the practice of those who would be wise. This is the way of wisdom even when the deceit is subtle. For example, the justification for wrong-doing has often been spoken by the declaration that “everyone’s doing it.” I can remember my Dad’s retort to that vividly. He would answer me with a simple truth: “Then, everyone’s wrong.” We need to return to that kind of wisdom.