Day 16: Talk Less, Listen More!

Dear Friend,

We’ve begun to study the first 'disease' of the tongue: excessive talking.

A little further on in the same chapter in Ecclesiastes 5, the Scripture indicates that an angel records what we say when we are speaking, praying or worshipping. One day we are going to be confronted by that angel and the record of what we have said. Then, the Bible says, it will be too late to say, "I didn’t really mean it," because we will be held accountable for all we have said, sung, or prayed. One day those words are going to be held up before us and we are going to have to answer for them if we have been insincere and have not really lived according to the things we have said.

The next verse, Ecclesiastes 5:3, continues:

“As a dream comes when there are many cares, so the speech of a fool when there are many words.” (NIV)

To use too many words is the mark of a fool. The King James Version of Ecclesiastes 5:3 is even more blunt:

“For a dream cometh through the multitude of business; and a fool’s voice is known by multitude of words.”

When you hear a person continually talking, you need no other evidence: that person is a fool. "A fool’s voice is known by multitude of words." What is the root problem? I believe it is restlessness. Compare that to what James says in James 3:8:

“No man can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison.” (NIV)

People who are always talking are restless people, and our contemporary culture is filled with them. Have you ever been with somebody who made your head swim by all the words that came out of his or her mouth? What is the root problem? Restlessness. Excessive talking is a sure indication of someone whose heart is not at rest.