Proverbs 18:4. The words of a man’s mouth are deep waters; the fountain of wisdom is a bubbling brook.
The contrast being made here in this proverb is between the deep waters and the bubbling brook. Deep waters are the underground streams that are not too easily accessible. But the bubbling brook runs right there on the surface for all to drink from and enjoy.
Proverbs 20:5 says something very similar to this proverb.
The purpose in a man’s heart is like deep water, but a man of understanding will draw it out.
The truth is that most of us don’t really say everything we are thinking in our hearts. We either don’t know how to express our feelings or we are too embarrassed to reveal our true selves. Or maybe it is our motives that we are likely to conceal. We might say the right thing, but the motivation behind it is from deep waters that are hard to discern, like telling the truth, but not from a pure heart, but from insecurity instead. Or maybe we affirm a person outwardly with our words, but inwardly, in the deep waters of our soul, we are resentful of their success.
By contrast, wisdom allows our heart’s reasoning and motivations to bubble to the surface. The wise person knows their own heart, they know why they say what they say. The wise person can discern the emotional and spiritual source of their own words. They’ve gone deep into the cave of their own soul to see where the deep waters come from. Likely they’ve had a man (person) of understanding that has helped them to draw out what has been hidden in their hearts. Now they have become a person of refreshing candor and clarity as Old Testament scholar Derek Kidner puts it.
What about you? Do your words just hide deep waters, or do your words bubble up as refreshing brooks of living water?
In John chapter four, Jesus spoke with a similar metaphor to the Samaritan woman at the well. He offered her “living water.” Water that was not stagnant, but flowing deep underground. You see the well hid deep waters. An underground stream. Using a jar or pitcher lowered down into the well, you would get a bit of water, but not the whole bubbling brook. And that’s all this woman wanted to offer to Jesus, just a little bit of her heart, her soul, her story, her pain, her shame, her fear.
But Jesus offered her much more than a pitcher’s worth of water. He, the ultimate man of understanding, drew out her heart. With his compassionate questions, he brought her deep water to the surface. Her five marriages and divorces. Her current immoral relationship. Her isolation. Her desperation. He showed her how, like ocean water for the person adrift at sea, the spiritual water she had been drinking would never satisfy. She needed the living water that only he could give. The deep water of his love and grace that would bubble up into streams of living water, bursting forth from her soul.
John 4:13-14. 13Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, 14but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”
You: Do your words only conceal hidden or deep waters, or do they reveal the flowing stream of God’s love in your heart?
You in Christ: How does our union with Christ give us the power and freedom to reveal our true hearts?
Christ in you: Are you experiencing the soul satisfaction of Jesus’ living water on a daily basis? If not, what might help you to “drink” from his bubbling brook each day?
Pray: Father, you have placed eternal life in me by the Spirit of Christ. Please let this allow me to let my faith in you bubble out for others to drink from. Amen.
To Live is Christ 