Mouth

There are people who are completely “nose blind”. According to healthline.com explains, “Nose blindness is a temporary, naturally occurring adaptation of your body that leads to an inability to detect or distinguish common scents in your surroundings. It’s sometimes also referred to as olfactory fatigue or olfactory adaptation.” You can smell it, but they just can’t seem to smell it. How about being “self blind”? People who are completely unaware of their self. They cant see what we can see. In fact, they surround themselves with those who only agree with them. So they are in a ‘bubble’ of sorts. Presidents, CEO’s, and Generals have this problem. No one is there to ‘speak truth to power’. It’s disconcerting to think about that kind of life. People telling you only what you want to hear, and even when it bombs, you still think you did the right thing.

We live in a world where everyone is raised to believe they are exceptional. So when we say we will do something, we really think we will. Our mouth can over extend our bank account and our sleep cycle. We tend to promise to do things we fully intend to do, but just cant get it done. We can also make plans, get braggadocios about it, and immediately forget what we said. Worse, we think we can actually predict what will happen. I am pretty sure that’s only reserved for God. 

One of the most ‘exact’ summations of this is found in 1 Kings 20. The General in lead of the campaign against Israel is bragging about how he will defeat the army of Israel. Who wouldnt? They have never been large, never been mighty, except while following God. Too often this wasn’t the case after Solomon. The Syrian General starts pressing demands on the King of Israel. You must remember though this is wicked Ahab. I mean wicked with a capital W. This man is awful. Ahab, the coward he is, concedes to many of the demands. Finally the Syrian tries to cheat him by taking more than he had originally demanded. Ahab finally grows a spine and says no more. Now the General readies his army against Israel. He threatens Ahab personally, and the people of Israel as a whole. His threats get more grandiose as he speaks. He ends up saying he will utterly wipe out Israel and the king as well. Pretty big claim… everyone? That is some serious blood shed, pre nuclear arsenal. No slaves, no bartering, no quarter, just death. How many? Everyone. How soon, now! 

Have you ever heard the statement: “a stopped clock is right at least twice a day”? Here is a living example of this. When Ahab hears this, he delivers this statement— “And the king of Israel answered and said, Tell him, Let not him that girdeth on his harness boast himself as he that putteth it off.” (1 Kings 20.11). It is easy to brag about what you are going to do before you do it. The proof is in your ability to do it. Can you bring it to completion? My mom said it this way— “The proof is in the pudding.”

Who here reading this wants to be like the Syrian king? Boasting about what we are going to do tomorrow and then not doing it. This king certainly tried to destroy Israel, but he was soundly defeated not once, but twice. Solomon said — “Boast not thyself of to morrow; for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth.” (Proverbs 27.1). Jesus said we shouldn’t even put emotional distraction into it— “Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.” (Matthew 6.34). I love James’ truth He received of the Spirit in James 4.14-16— “14 Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away. For that ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that. But now ye rejoice in your boastings: all such rejoicing is evil.” 

“All such rejoicing is evil”. It is. We are pretending to be our own gods. This was the temptation of the Garden so many years ago, and now it’s in our face. Satan doesn’t have to work very hard for us to fall for this does he? Do you see the other character who fell for this in the story? Ahab himself. Yes, he gives us more of an illustration of this same mentality. He himself became braggadocios and his wife Jezebel with him. Possibly more so than him. Long story, but to get to the point: both died horribly not fulfilling what they said they would. 

Stay humble. Ask God. Surrender your plans to God. Don’t boast about tomorrow. Rest in His plans for you.