The Architecture of Reality vs. The Shack of Lies Text: Proverbs 12:19
Introduction: The War on Words
We live in an age that has declared war on reality, and the front line of this war is language. Words are the tools God gave us to understand and interact with His world. But our generation treats words like Silly Putty, to be stretched and twisted to mean whatever the prevailing cultural impulse demands. We are told that a man can be a woman if he says he is, that truth is a personal preference, and that to speak plainly about sin is an act of violence. This is not just a disagreement over definitions; it is a rebellion against the Creator who built the world with His Word and who defined the terms.
When God created the world, He spoke it into existence. The universe is not a cosmic accident; it is a divine utterance. Reality has a grammar because God is a God of language, a God who communicates. And because He is the God of truth, the structure of reality itself is truthful. A world created by the Word is a world where words matter. Therefore, to lie is to do more than just mislead someone; it is to fight against the very grain of the universe. It is an attempt to build a rival reality, a ramshackle hut of falsehood on the bedrock foundation of God's truth.
The book of Proverbs is intensely practical. It does not float in the clouds of abstract philosophy. It brings theology down to the street, to the marketplace, to the dinner table. And here, in this sharp, concise proverb, the Holy Spirit gives us a fundamental architectural principle of reality. There are two ways to build with your words: you can build with the stone of truth, or you can build with the straw of lies. One creates a permanent dwelling; the other is a temporary shelter that will be blown away by the first gust of divine judgment.
The Text
"Truthful lips will be established forever, But a lying tongue is only for a moment."
(Proverbs 12:19 LSB)
The Enduring Edifice of Truth
Let us take the first clause:
"Truthful lips will be established forever..."
The word "established" here means to be set up, to be fixed, to be made firm and lasting. Think of a foundation for a great cathedral. Truthful speech is not just a good moral habit; it is a construction project. When a man consistently speaks the truth, he is building something. He is building a reputation, he is building trust, he is building a legacy. But more than that, he is aligning himself with something eternal.
Why is truth eternal? Because God is eternal, and God is truth. Jesus did not say, "I will show you a way to the truth." He said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life" (John 14:6). Truth is not a set of abstract propositions; it is a Person. The eternal Word, the Logos, through whom all things were made, is the ultimate reality. Therefore, every time you speak a true word, no matter how small, you are tapping into the very nature of God. You are speaking in harmony with the fabric of the cosmos. Your words have weight, substance, and permanence because they are connected to the One who is permanent.
This is why the Scriptures are called the Word of God. They are established forever. "The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever" (Isaiah 40:8). When our lips speak in conformity with God's Word, our own words partake of that same eternal quality. A man whose word is his bond, whose yes is yes and no is no, is a man who is building an unshakable life. People know where he stands. His relationships are stable. His conscience is clear. His life is an edifice built on the rock of God's own character.
The Fleeting Fraud of Falsehood
Now consider the contrast, which is as stark as night and day.
"...But a lying tongue is only for a moment."
The image here is one of frantic, temporary activity. The Hebrew can be translated "for the twinkling of an eye." A lie is a frantic attempt to manipulate the present moment. It is a short-term strategy, a desperate patch job. The liar is always having to remember what he said to whom. He is constantly looking over his shoulder. He lives in a house of cards, and the slightest breeze of scrutiny threatens to bring the whole thing down.
The father of lies is the devil, and Jesus said of him that "he was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him" (John 8:44). Notice the connection: murder and lies. Lies do violence to reality. They destroy trust, they ruin relationships, they assassinate reputations. A lying tongue is an instrument of destruction. But its power is temporary. A lie has a very short shelf life. It may seem to work for a moment, it may secure a temporary advantage, it may get you out of immediate trouble. But it cannot last, because it has no foundation. It is a denial of the way things actually are.
You cannot build anything on a lie. You can only steal, vandalize, and destroy. All the great tyrannies of the twentieth century were built on colossal lies, and they all collapsed into the dustbin of history. All the petty deceptions in our personal lives, the little white lies, the exaggerations, the evasions, they too will be exposed. "For there is nothing hidden that will not be disclosed, and nothing concealed that will not be known or brought out into the open" (Luke 8:17). The day is coming when all the flimsy shacks built by lying tongues will be flattened, and only the structures built on the foundation of truth will remain.
Living in the Light of Forever
So what is the practical application for us? This proverb is a call to align our speech with eternity. It forces us to ask a fundamental question with every word we speak: am I building for now, or am I building for forever?
The temptation to lie comes when we are fixated on the immediate moment. We fear the momentary embarrassment of the truth. We crave the momentary advantage of a falsehood. We want to avoid the momentary conflict that honesty might bring. The liar is a temporal pragmatist. He does what "works" right now.
But the man of truth is an eternal realist. He understands that the present moment is not all there is. He lives in the light of the final judgment. He knows that a moment of embarrassment now is infinitely better than an eternity of shame later. He knows that any advantage gained by a lie is a fool's bargain, trading a permanent foundation for a pile of rubble.
This is why repentance is so central to the Christian life. Repentance is, at its heart, an act of telling the truth. It is agreeing with God about the reality of your sin. When you confess your sin, you are speaking a true word. You are aligning yourself with reality, and therefore with God. And in Christ, that truthful confession is met not with condemnation, but with the cleansing blood of the one who is Truth itself.
Our culture is building a Tower of Babel with the bricks of deceit and the mortar of arrogance. It is a monument to unreality, and it will not stand. As Christians, we are called to be builders of a different kind. We are citizens of a city whose builder and maker is God. And in that city, the New Jerusalem, we are told that "nothing unclean will ever enter it, nor anyone who does what is detestable or false" (Revelation 21:27). Our task now is to live as citizens of that coming city, to build with the imperishable materials of truth, to speak in such a way that our words will be established not just for a moment, but forever.