Still Waters or Living Streams: The Source of Your Words Text: Proverbs 18:4
Introduction: The War of Words
Every word you speak is a weapon. Every sentence is an act of creation or an act of destruction. We live in an age drowning in words, a ceaseless digital torrent of opinions, accusations, flatteries, and lies. Our culture is drunk on verbiage and yet dying of thirst for wisdom. We think that because we can speak, we have something to say. But the book of Proverbs, in its rugged, practical wisdom, forces us to ask a foundational question: what is the source of your words? From what well are you drawing?
The modern world wants to tell you that your words are your own. They are expressions of your authentic, autonomous self. Your truth is your truth. But this is a deadly lie, born in the Garden when the serpent first taught us to use words as tools of rebellion instead of instruments of worship. The result is a world full of deep, dark, and dangerous waters. Our political discourse is a murky swamp. Our social media is a stagnant pool of envy and malice. Our personal conversations are too often clouded with ambiguity, half-truths, and unspoken resentments.
Into this verbal chaos, Solomon speaks a word of sharp, clarifying contrast. He presents us with two kinds of speech, flowing from two very different sources. One is obscure, difficult, and potentially dangerous. The other is clear, life-giving, and refreshing. This is not merely a piece of folksy advice on how to be a better conversationalist. This is a fundamental diagnostic tool for the human heart. By your words, you will be justified, and by your words, you will be condemned. So we must attend to them. We must understand their source, their nature, and their end.
The Text
The words of a man’s mouth are deep waters;
The fountain of wisdom is a flowing brook.
(Proverbs 18:4 LSB)
The Murky Depths of Man (v. 4a)
The proverb begins with a description of human speech in its natural, fallen state.
"The words of a man’s mouth are deep waters;" (Proverbs 18:4a)
This is a statement of fact, and it is a warning. Think about deep waters. What are their characteristics? First, they are obscure. You cannot see the bottom. What lurks in the depths? Rocks? Monsters? Drowned men? You do not know. This is the nature of fallen human speech. Our hearts are deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked, who can understand them? (Jer. 17:9). And because the mouth speaks from the overflow of the heart, our words are naturally murky. They conceal as much as they reveal. We use words to manage our image, to manipulate others, to hide our true motives. The plain-spoken man is a rarity; the default is a kind of strategic ambiguity.
Second, deep waters are dangerous. You can drown in them. A man can be pulled under by flattery, entangled in gossip, or swept away by a smooth-sounding but godless philosophy. James tells us the tongue is a fire, a world of unrighteousness, set on fire by hell (James 3:6). The deep waters of a man's mouth can be a place of immense destruction. A few careless words can destroy a reputation, a marriage, a church. They are deep, and they are not safe.
Third, something valuable might be down there, but it is difficult to get to. Another proverb says, "The purpose in a man's heart is deep water, but a man of understanding will draw it out" (Proverbs 20:5). It takes wisdom to navigate the deep waters of another person's soul, to ask the right questions, to discern the true intent. But the point here in chapter 18 is that this is the default condition. Human speech, left to itself, is not a clear, refreshing stream. It is a deep, dark, and difficult pool. It is the verbal equivalent of the tohu wa-bohu in Genesis 1, the unformed and void state of things before God spoke His clarifying light into it.
The Gushing Spring of God (v. 4b)
The second line of the proverb is not a continuation, but a sharp, glorious contrast.
"The fountain of wisdom is a flowing brook." (Proverbs 18:4b LSB)
Notice the shift. We move from "a man's mouth" to "the fountain of wisdom." This is not just any man's speech anymore. This is speech that has found its true source. And what is this source? The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom (Proverbs 9:10). The source is God Himself. Wisdom is not a human achievement; it is a divine gift, rooted in a right relationship with the Creator.
And what is the nature of speech that flows from this fountain? It is a "flowing brook." Think about the contrast with deep waters. A flowing brook is, first, clear. You can see the bottom. The rocks are visible. There are no hidden monsters. Speech that flows from divine wisdom is characterized by clarity, honesty, and integrity. It is not duplicitous. It is not manipulative. It says what it means and means what it says. This is the biblical standard: "Let your ‘Yes’ be ‘Yes,’ and your ‘No,’ ‘No.’ For whatever is more than these is from the evil one" (Matthew 5:37).
Second, a flowing brook is life-giving. Where the river flows, everything lives (Ezekiel 47:9). A thirsty man does not go to a deep, stagnant pool; he seeks out a fresh, running stream. Wise words bring healing, encouragement, and life. "Pleasant words are a honeycomb, sweet to the soul and healing to the bones" (Proverbs 16:24). They refresh the weary. They give clarity to the confused. They are a source of life, not a place of drowning.
Third, a flowing brook is accessible. You don't need special equipment to get a drink from a brook. You can cup your hands and drink. Divine wisdom is not an esoteric, Gnostic secret for the elite. It is profoundly simple and available to all who would humble themselves and ask for it. It is not murky and complicated; it is a clear stream running right through the center of town.
From the Murky Pool to the Living Water
So we have a stark contrast. On the one hand, the natural man, whose words are deep, dark, and dangerous waters. On the other hand, the man of wisdom, whose words are a clear, life-giving, flowing brook. The question the proverb forces upon us is this: how do you get from one to the other? How does the stagnant pool of your heart become a fountain of wisdom?
The answer is not found in trying harder to be clear, or in making a New Year's resolution to stop gossiping. The problem is not with the water; the problem is with the source. You need a new source. You need a miracle. You need what the prophet Jeremiah spoke of when he condemned Israel: "For My people have committed two evils: They have forsaken Me, the fountain of living waters, and hewn themselves cisterns, broken cisterns that can hold no water" (Jeremiah 2:13).
To forsake God is to be left with only the deep, murky waters of your own heart. To build your own cisterns is to rely on your own resources, which are always cracked and leaking. The only solution is to be reconnected to the fountain of living waters.
And this brings us straight to the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the one who stood in the temple and cried out, "If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water" (John 7:37-38). Jesus is the fountain of wisdom personified. He is the Logos, the divine Word, through whom all things were made. His words are not deep waters; they are spirit and they are life (John 6:63).
Conclusion: Becoming a Flowing Brook
When you, by faith, are united to Christ, a radical transformation begins. The Holy Spirit comes to dwell in you, and He begins the work of un-stopping the well of your heart and connecting it to the infinite fountain of Christ Himself. The Christian life is the process of learning to speak from this new source. It is the process of your speech becoming less like a murky pool and more like a flowing brook.
This means your words should become clearer. You should be a person of your word, known for your honesty. It means your words should become more life-giving. Do you build people up or tear them down? Do people leave your presence refreshed or exhausted? It means your words must be sourced in the Word of God. You cannot be a fountain of wisdom if you are not daily drinking from the Scriptures, where the wisdom of God is revealed.
The world is full of people speaking from the deep, dark waters of their own fallen hearts. They are drowning in their own words. As Christians, we are called to be different. We are called to be oases in this verbal desert. When Christ saves you, He does not just save your soul for a future heaven. He saves your mouth for a present reality. He takes the stagnant pool of your fallen speech and, by His grace, transforms it into a flowing brook, a stream of living water that brings clarity, life, and refreshment to a world that is dying of thirst.