A WORD TO THE WISE: Proverbs 26: 28

Proverbs 26: 28     A lying tongue hates those who are crushed by it, and a flattering mouth works ruin.

Proverbs 26: 28.  Sometimes your “haters” are those who tell you that you can’t do what you actually can, the ones who attack your gifts and calling.

And sometimes, your “haters” are the ones who tell you that you can do what you actually can’t, the ones who flatter you into jumping out into an area that isn’t your calling, your gift, or your business.

Often the flattering hater can discern the spiritual negative.  He/she may not see what God is calling you into, but they can tell where God has posted “Keep out.”  The flattering hater understands that if he/she can get you to walk outside of God’s will then they can bring you to ridicule, cause you to waste time and energy, discourage you from exercising your real gift/ actual calling, and place you in the path of God’s wrath rather than His grace.

In 2 Chronicles 18, a spirit of flattery boosted up the ego of bad king Ahab so he’d go into a battle that God never intended him to win.  Ahab died and almost got his friend, a good king named Jehosophat, killed.

In 1 Kings 13, God sent a prophet to deliver a Word.  God told the prophet very specifically to go straight there and come straight back without eating or drinking.  On his way home, another prophet (actual called man of God) convinced the walking prophet that God had told him to tell him to do the opposite of what God told him to do. 

So he went back with him, and ate bread in his house, and drank water( 1 Kings 13: 19). While they were having dinner, the deceiver prophesied the death of the prophet who’d been turned aside.  
On his way home, the 1^st prophet was attacked by a lion.  And just to show that this wasn’t an accident, God directed the lion to pull the dude off his donkey, kill him, and then stand next to the body and the donkey without eating either one---- so people could pass by and see what had happened.

It is crucial that you not let discouraging voices prevent you from pursuing the dream that God has given you.  It is equally crucial not to let sweet voices deceive into following the wrong dream.

Part of discerning the difference is remembering that an experience isn’t necessarily a calling.

In Numbers 11: 25, the Holy Spirit fell upon 70 lay elders chosen by Moses.  Every one of those men prophesied ---- once.  They never did so again.   It was a life changing experience, but their callings were not to the prophetic ministry.  Their callings were to lay leadership and care for the community of Israel.

What I’m saying is: Just because you hit one good note one Sunday doesn’t necessarily mean that you’re supposed to get every solo.  Just because your baby made all-stars at YMCA pee-wee camp doesn’t mean you tell him to quit studying because he’s going to the NBA.

Learn what your gifts are, and learn what your gifts are not.   Walk in your calling and not in the calling other people have picked out for you.  Listen to wise people, but obey God rather than man/ woman.

Don’t get yourself flattered into destruction.

----- Anderson T. Graves II

Rev. Anderson T. Graves II is the pastor of Hall Memorial CME Church

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Hall Memorial CME Church
541 Seibles Rd.,
Montgomery, AL 36116