If my back hurts because I have been beaten, perhaps I have been beaten because of something I said for “a fool’s talk brings a rod to his back…” Yet, my back cannot blame my lips and tongue for they only move as the heart commands. For the heart is the command of the lips and tongue and it is the back that suffers. When the back hurts the whole body suffers, and it is the heart that is the cause though few know it. They only ask, “Why have I been beaten?”
Is there a pattern of beating and suffering in my life? Does the same pain keep coming back and never leave? If so it is wise to seek the cause of the pain. Ask the question, “How do I contribute to the pain?” Or better yet, “What part of me is the real cause of the pain?” Perhaps it is my lips and tongue. Perhaps they are only an intermediate cause, not the root cause. It is better to curve the heart to control the mouth and thus save the back from the beating of a rod.
“The lips of the wise protect them” for the wise realize that God is the only cure for a heart that is the result of a rod repeatedly beating on the back. The wise cries out from the heart through the lips, “Save me Lord Jesus and take total control of my life. Make new my heart. Make it like yours. Change my heart, then you God will protect my back from the beating rod from the cause of sin and death.”
