Stop Talking About Your Problems
Stop Talking About Your Problems | August 13, 2023
A wise and prudent step to take when facing struggles is to seek sound counsel. However, telling everybody who will listen about your problems is counterproductive. See, the more "airtime" you give your problems, the more you are engraining negativity and discouragement into your mind.
Proverbs 21:23 says, "Whoever guards his mouth and tongue keeps his soul from troubles." While the context speaks of relational communication, the principle applies to any use of the mouth. We must guard the heart and mouth from becoming a fountain of bad news. We must equally be mindful of keeping the information about our difficulties to a select few. Sure, there are times when a larger group of people need to be in the know for prayer or support, but for most of our "life fender-benders," we must keep the circle tight. Repeatedly rehashing the problem brings additional confusion, disheartenment, and fatigue. Before you know it, you spend all your energy telling everybody about your troubles and have no time to pray or seek the wise counsel you need.
Knowing this, we need to do less babbling about our burdens and more believing like the Psalmist who said: "I believed, even when I spoke: 'I am greatly afflicted.' " Psalm 116:10
The Apostle Paul would later quote this verse while encouraging the church at Corinth, saying, "Since we have the same spirit of faith according to what has been written, 'I believed, and so I spoke,' we also believe, and so we also speak." Second Corinthians 4:13
In both cases, the teaching is that even though the circumstances might be grim, God is faithful and trustworthy. Therefore, these things must be on our minds and at the tip of our tongues because lamenting about problems only makes us crazier!
Once again, while pursuing sound counsel for adversity is highly advisable, continuing to talk about your crisis will work against you and stifle your healing.
Proverbs 21:23 says, "Whoever guards his mouth and tongue keeps his soul from troubles." While the context speaks of relational communication, the principle applies to any use of the mouth. We must guard the heart and mouth from becoming a fountain of bad news. We must equally be mindful of keeping the information about our difficulties to a select few. Sure, there are times when a larger group of people need to be in the know for prayer or support, but for most of our "life fender-benders," we must keep the circle tight. Repeatedly rehashing the problem brings additional confusion, disheartenment, and fatigue. Before you know it, you spend all your energy telling everybody about your troubles and have no time to pray or seek the wise counsel you need.
Knowing this, we need to do less babbling about our burdens and more believing like the Psalmist who said: "I believed, even when I spoke: 'I am greatly afflicted.' " Psalm 116:10
The Apostle Paul would later quote this verse while encouraging the church at Corinth, saying, "Since we have the same spirit of faith according to what has been written, 'I believed, and so I spoke,' we also believe, and so we also speak." Second Corinthians 4:13
In both cases, the teaching is that even though the circumstances might be grim, God is faithful and trustworthy. Therefore, these things must be on our minds and at the tip of our tongues because lamenting about problems only makes us crazier!
Once again, while pursuing sound counsel for adversity is highly advisable, continuing to talk about your crisis will work against you and stifle your healing.
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