Proverbs 10.8
“The wise of heart will receive commandments, but a babbling fool will come to ruin.”
In contrast to people who diligently seek God’s wisdom, there are other people whom Proverbs describes as “babbling fools.” These are dangerous folks who are misinformed and ignorant, yet have strong opinions which they express recklessly and foolishly.
As Paul says in Romans 1.22, “Claiming to be wise, they became fools.”
Babbling fools are often profoundly arrogant and deeply resistant to logic, fact, and reasonable conversation. They seek only information that confirms their agenda, and they angrily denounce and reject anything that contradicts their narrative. As the verse above indicates, babbling fools do not want to receive direction or correction.
They are deathly afraid of truth.
Today we are living in a culture of babbling fools. Our society is suffering from a dreadful lack of verbal restraint. You hear it everywhere. Mainstream media, social media, texts, emails, company gossip, rumors around town, conversations in restaurants and coffee shops, etc..
Social media isn’t the culprit, though it is a platform and breeding ground for mindless rants. Blaming social media is like blaming the instrument because of a bad musician. The reason social media has become a reckless free-for-all is because of how people use it. They lack the restraint to engage virtually with others in a respectful and reasonable way.
Our lack of verbal restraint comes from the depths of our souls. It comes from hearts that are given to self rather than to God and truth. Jesus says it plainly in Matthew 12.34: “Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.”
Sometimes we simply lack the wisdom and discipline to sit still and shut up.
Something gets our attention, triggers an impulsive reaction, and then we express our opinion without really thinking. We feel an emotional rush because we made a declaration and were rewarded with likes, clicks, follows, and retweets. The tragic reality is that sometimes we are just babbling fools who got liked, clicked, followed, and retweeted by other babbling fools.
Just read through some Twitter threads. It’s babbling fools talking to babbling fools.
When caught in this emotional trap, we react defensively if confronted by different perspectives. We double down on our narrative and become even more impervious to relevant input from others. This is actually a thinking dysfunction that psychologists refer to as “cognitive dissonance.” It is on full display on social media every day.
While it might feel good in the moment, the result is bad. Very bad. Babbling fools are horribly divisive and do enormous damage to people, relationships, families, teams, companies, and entire communities.
Everyone of us is capable of being a foolish babbler. Whenever we act without verbal restraint, it is a failure to be humble before the God who redeemed us, calls us to himself, and sends us into the world as his ambassadors.
As an exercise in the discipline of verbal restraint, I encourage you to press pause and ask yourself five questions before you speak, write, text, or post:
- What do I not see that I need to see?
- What do I see but am discounting?
- What am I pretending not to see?
- How do others see this situation in a way that I don’t?
- What does the Word of God say?
Be wise. Be disciplined. Exercise verbal restraint.
Trust God and do the work.
