The Appetite for Filth: Proverbs 17:4
Introduction: The Great Sonic War
We live in an age drowning in words. We are bombarded by a constant, shrieking cacophony of podcasts, news feeds, social media screeds, and endless commentary. But in this digital ocean of noise, we have forgotten a fundamental truth that the book of Proverbs assumes on every page: words are not neutral. Words are never just words. They are either building materials or wrecking balls. They are either seeds that produce life or cancers that bring death. Our secular, materialist culture wants to pretend that words are simply vibrations in the air, arbitrary sounds we assign meaning to. But God tells us that words are the very currency of creation and covenant. God spoke, and the universe leaped into existence. Christ is the Word made flesh. The entire Christian faith is built upon the truthfulness and reliability of God's speech to us.
Because this is true, we are in the midst of a great sonic war. The Devil, who is the father of lies, has always understood the power of words. From his first whisper to Eve in the Garden, "Did God really say?," his primary strategy has been to attack, twist, and counterfeit the words of God. He is the ultimate slanderer, the accuser of the brethren. And in our time, his assault has reached a fever pitch. We are witnessing the systematic deconstruction of language itself. Words no longer have fixed meanings. Truth is dismissed as a personal preference, "your truth." And the most popular forms of communication are those that specialize in slander, gossip, and the cultivation of outrage. We have created a global communication network that functions as a superhighway for the destructive tongue.
Into this chaos, the wisdom of Proverbs speaks with startling clarity. It does not simply tell us not to lie. It goes much deeper. It diagnoses the condition of the human heart that creates the market for lies. It tells us not only about the person who speaks wickedness, but about the person who eagerly listens to it. Proverbs 17:4 is a spiritual diagnostic tool. It reveals a fundamental law of the moral universe: what you are determines what you want to hear. Your heart's disposition tunes your ears to a certain frequency. And in a world overflowing with malicious and destructive words, this proverb forces us to ask a deeply uncomfortable question: what are you listening to, and what does that say about who you are?
The Text
An evildoer gives heed to lips of wickedness;
A liar gives ear to a destructive tongue.
(Proverbs 17:4 LSB)
The Magnetic Pull of Malice (v. 4a)
The first clause of this proverb establishes a direct link between a person's character and their listening habits.
"An evildoer gives heed to lips of wickedness..." (Proverbs 17:4a)
The principle here is one of moral affinity. Like attracts like. A buzzard is not drawn to a rose garden; it seeks out carrion because its nature is suited to it. In the same way, an evildoer possesses a spiritual appetite for wickedness. He doesn't just tolerate wicked talk; he "gives heed" to it. The Hebrew word here means to be attentive, to listen closely, to prick up one's ears. He is an eager customer in the marketplace of malice.
This is a profound insight into human psychology. We think of sin as something we primarily do, but the Bible often speaks of it as something we are. The "evildoer" is not just someone who occasionally does a bad thing. He is a man whose character has been bent and shaped by rebellion against God. His heart is corrupt, and therefore his ears crave a diet of corruption. When he hears slander, gossip, or a lie that tears down a righteous man, it resonates with the bitterness and envy in his own soul. It feels like home. It confirms his own cynical worldview that everyone is just as rotten as he is.
This is why the outrage industry is so profitable. It is why gossip columns and slanderous political websites get so many clicks. They are feeding a massive, unacknowledged appetite for wickedness. People who are discontent, envious, and bitter love to hear that someone else has failed. The man who is cheating on his wife finds a strange comfort in hearing a rumor that his pastor is having an affair. The woman who is lazy and undisciplined loves to hear that the successful woman she envies is secretly miserable. Wicked lips find a ready audience in wicked ears. The speaker and the listener are partners in the same crime, co-conspirators against the God of truth.
We must therefore examine our own listening habits. What kind of information do you lean into? When the conversation turns to tearing someone down, do you lean in or do you lean out? Do you find yourself strangely energized by bad news about others? If so, this proverb is a flashing warning light on the dashboard of your soul. Your appetites are revealing a sickness within.
The Liar's Echo Chamber (v. 4b)
The second clause parallels and intensifies the first, showing the symbiotic relationship between lying and listening to lies.
"A liar gives ear to a destructive tongue." (Proverbs 17:4b LSB)
Here, the general "evildoer" is specified as a "liar." And the "lips of wickedness" are specified as a "destructive tongue." A liar is not just a consumer of falsehood; he is a connoisseur. He gives ear, he pays attention, he listens intently to the work of a destructive tongue because he is a fellow tradesman. He is listening to a master of his own dark craft.
This creates a perverse fellowship, an echo chamber of deceit. The liar speaks his lies, and other liars gather around to hear them, to affirm them, and to amplify them. They are not interested in truth. Truth is the enemy. Truth would disrupt their entire system. Their goal is destruction. The Hebrew for "destructive tongue" speaks of words that bring ruin, calamity, and mischief. This is not about little white lies. This is about language weaponized to tear down God's created order. It is the tongue that destroys a marriage, splits a church, ruins a reputation, or undermines civil peace.
The liar listens to this kind of talk for several reasons. First, it provides him with new ammunition. He collects the slanders of others to use for his own purposes. Second, it justifies his own lying. If everyone else is doing it, then his own deceit is normalized. It is just the way the world works. He is not a sinner; he is a pragmatist. Third, it feeds his pride. The liar, at his core, is playing God. He believes he has the right to create his own reality with his words. When he listens to another destructive tongue, he is listening to someone who shares his satanic ambition. They are building a world made of lies, a kingdom of falsehood in opposition to the kingdom of Christ, who is the Truth.
This is precisely the state of our modern public discourse. Our political and cultural tribes have become echo chambers where destructive tongues speak to the itching ears of liars. Each side eagerly consumes and spreads the most malicious and destructive reports about the other, with no regard for the truth. They give ear to the destructive tongue because it serves their destructive agenda. They are not seeking to build, but to tear down. This is the spirit of Antichrist at work, and it begins when a liar gives ear to a destructive tongue.
The Gospel Cure for a Lying Heart
So what is the solution? This proverb diagnoses a terminal condition. The evildoer's heart craves evil. The liar's heart is tuned to lies. The problem is not simply the words being spoken or heard; the problem is the heart that produces and consumes them. You cannot tell a man with cancer to simply "stop having cancer." He needs a radical cure. He needs a resurrection.
And that is exactly what the gospel provides. The Bible tells us that by nature, our hearts are deceitful above all things, and desperately sick (Jeremiah 17:9). We are all born evildoers and liars. We are children of our father the devil, and we naturally desire to do what he does (John 8:44). This is our native condition. This is why the world is the way it is. It is a world full of people with wicked hearts and lying ears.
But God, in His mercy, does not leave us there. He performs a spiritual heart transplant. Through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, God takes out our stony, deceitful heart and gives us a new heart of flesh (Ezekiel 36:26). He gives us a new nature. And with that new nature comes a new set of appetites. He gives us a love for the truth. He retunes our ears to hear and delight in the words of God.
This is what it means to be born again. It is a supernatural rewiring of our entire being. The apostle Paul says that God, who commanded light to shine out of darkness, has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ (2 Corinthians 4:6). The God who spoke "Let there be light" into the formless void of the first creation does the same thing in the chaotic darkness of the sinner's heart. He speaks His Word, Jesus Christ, into us, and that Word brings light and life and truth.
Therefore, the Christian response to the culture of lies is not simply to fact-check more diligently. It is to be a people who have been so thoroughly transformed by the gospel of truth that we have lost our appetite for filth. When we hear lips of wickedness, it should grieve us. When we hear a destructive tongue, it should sound like nails on a chalkboard to our new nature. Our ears should be tuned to what is true, what is honorable, what is just, what is pure, what is lovely, what is commendable (Philippians 4:8).
The church is to be an outpost of the kingdom of truth in a world of lies. We are to be a community where words are used for their created purpose: to build, to heal, to encourage, and to speak the truth in love. And as we do this, as we cultivate a culture of truthfulness, we become a living, breathing polemic against the father of lies. We demonstrate to a watching world that there is a better way to live, a better way to speak, and a better King to listen to.