Proverbs 10:10,11,  He that winketh with the eye causeth sorrow: but a prating fool shall fall. The mouth of a righteous man is a well of life: but violence covereth the mouth of the wicked.

Let me see a show of hands of all here who are multilingual, that is who speak two or more languages.

We did not have many raise their hands but in reality all should have raised their hands for all of us speak not only in the English language but we also speak in what is called Body Language.

There is an old saying that goes like this: "The body never lies and the body never keeps quiet."

What is being said here is that when we speak in our native tongue we sometimes lie, but when the body speaks, the body speaks truth and also the body does not hold its tongue.

When the mouth is engaged you can be sure the body also speaks.

There are studies by people who invest their lives in such things, studies which conclude that when we communicate, only 7 per cent of the communication depends on verbal communication but the rest of the communication, that is 93% comes non verbally.

And of the 93 per cent- 38 percent is for voice modulation and 55 per cent is for body language.

These are quite revealing statistics and they indicate the tremendous impact body language makes during communication.

Now body language constitutes the total facial and body animation.

Human beings may say many lies but it is the language of the body that usually speaks truth.

When we communicate, the other person observes and registers our body language in his or her subconscious mind.

Externally, the listener appears to receive every thing of the verbal language but the listener’s subconscious mind is totally occupied with our body language.

That study said 7 per cent of the communication depends on verbal communication but the rest of the communication, comes from voice modulation and body language.

So the mind processes the words but it also processes the language that is communicated by the body and determines if the mouth and the body are in agreement in saying the same thing.

A person standing with their hands on their hips shows readiness for action and may indicate aggression.

Another one sitting with legs crossed with foot kicking communicates boredom.

Brisk, erect talk shows confidence.

While arms crossed on the chest is a defensive position.

Walking with hands in pockets, shoulders hunched shows dejection

While hand to cheek shows evaluation or thinking

Rubbing the eye - Doubt, disbelief

Touching or slightly rubbing the nose - Rejection, doubt, lying

Locked ankles - Apprehension

Hands clasped behind back - Anger, frustration, apprehension

Head resting in hand, eyes downcast - Boredom

Rubbing hands - anticipation

Sitting with hands clasped behind head, legs crossed - Confidence, superiority

Open palm - Sincerity, openness, innocence

Tapping or drumming fingers - Impatience

Pinching bridge of nose, eyes closed - Negative evaluation

Steepling (shape of a steeple) fingers - Authoritative

Patting/fondling hair - Lack of self-confidence, insecurity

Titled head - Interest

Stroking chin - Trying to make a decision

Pulling or tugging at ear - Indecision

Biting nails – Insecurity, nervousness

Looking down, face turned away - Disbelief

Eyes not focused on speaker, eyes wandering indicates boredom.

Feet pointing away from speaker, indicates desire to leave.

So body language is spoken by all of us.

And to some extent understood by all of us although it does appear that the prating fool understands little of that which is communicated by the body of his bored listener.

God tells us of the prominence of body language clearly in Proverbs 6:12,13, where He says:

A naughty person, a wicked man, walketh with a froward mouth. He winketh with his eyes, he speaketh with his feet, he teacheth with his fingers;

Does anyone still use such an archaic word as the word "naughty?"

I remember well in my youth this word aimed often at me.

I was even called a bad boy at times but it didn’t seem to harm me permanently.

We used to say as our defense against such things:  Sticks and stones may break my bones but names will never hurt me.

But God tells us in our proverb for today that body language will hurt for He says:

He that winketh with the eye causeth sorrow:

So body language can be a harmful thing.

The naughty person uses his eyes, his feet, and his fingers to express rebellion.

Body language is the first language of children.

They first speak with their body loud and clear.

As parents we are given to suppress our children in using their body to express rebellion.

Now he winketh with his eyes means that he pinches his eyes together in malice or threat.

His eyes squint together as they are used to stare down authority, to threaten those who try to govern him.

His feet speak as they stamp out a message of defiance.

Don't you see the beginnings of this stamping of feet in uncontrolled children?

Stamping of feet is symbolic of the stamping out of authority.

And how his feet speak disobedience to authority as they take him out of the way of that which is required.

His fingers are used in gestures of malice and contempt to those who defy him.

Oh, how fingers are used to communicate today.

For they can speak volumes. And how inflammatory they are?

In many cases they enflame road rage.

People have killed because of the speech made with fingers.

And how they reveal what is in the heart of naughty and wicked persons!

Every language includes the language of the body.

The heart forces the body to do its bidding.

The heart is not satisfied with simply communicating with the mouth so every part of the body is enlisted in the communication of rebellion.

When the mouth is not enough, the eyes and the feet and the fingers are employed to serve the hostility of the heart.

One of the marks of a sinner is the hypocrisy of the communication of the mouth compared with the communication of the body.

Jesus told us clearly to let our Yeas be Yea and our Nays be Nay.

The spirit filled man or woman is to be one in both mouth and body.

There is to be an integrity in mind and heart where the mouth and body agree and communicate the same message.

There is to be no winking of the eyes communicating a different message from that which comes from the mouth for the winking with the eye causeth sorrow.

As the Apostle Paul said to the Corinthians, we are to bring our bodies into subjection.

We do this by honesty and forthrightness of speech with which our body can gladly provide agreement.

When we walk in the Spirit of God both our mouth and our body will speak the truth.

For in Proverbs 10:11 we are told,  The mouth of a righteous man is a well of life: but violence covereth the mouth of the wicked.

We clearly know there is much said by the mouth but there is also much needed to be said about the mouth.

Recently we left our study of the epistle of James, the Apostle, who also gave instruction about the tongue and here again in this proverb we hear instruction concerning the tongue.

God surely knows what we need, for the tongue indeed is a fire, a world of iniquity, a defiler of the whole body, an unruly evil, full of deadly poison.

By the tongue as James told us we bless God and curse men, who are made in God’s image.

But the thing that we want to focus on today is that part of the tongue that blesses God for we are told in Proverbs 10:11 that the mouth of a righteous man is a well of life.

So we learn here today that the mouth does not have to be a fire, does not have to be a world of iniquity, nor a defiler of the whole body, nor an unruly evil, nor full of deadly poison.

For we are given a cure for a tongue like that and that cure is righteousness.

For the mouth of a righteous man is a well of life:

So here we are given a particular man and a particular mouth that produces particular results.

First let us focus on what here is called a well of life.

Now the well that is being spoken of here is a well where men and women come to get the all important commodity of water.

Without water there is no physical life.

Our space scientists are diligently searching for water on other planets and moons so that they can also search for life forms, for with water they say all is possible.

The water that comes into your home comes from wells that tap into the Alabama aquifer, water that comes to your faucet after many miles of travel from the north.

So we too depend on a well of water for life.

God uses this important commodity to speak of what comes out of the mouth of a righteous man.

The mouth of such a man, a man who is righteous, brings forth life giving words.

Jesus told the Samaritan woman that the well that she should concentrate upon was the well that produced the water that would let her never thirst again.

It was the well that flowed water from the mouth of the very one who spoke to her that day.

For He said in John 4:14,  But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.

Jesus again spoke of the well in John 7:38, when at the feast of tabernacles he said:

He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.

The righteous man is that man who has drunk of the water that Jesus has given him, the water by which he will never thirst again.

It is water that springs up in his speech, water that provides the word of life to those who come to the well.

Jesus spoke of living waters coming out of this man’s belly meaning that the waters that the righteous man has to give are to satisfy the thirst of others.

They are to edify others, they are to build others up.

The righteous man utters words that are refreshing as cold waters to the thirsty soul

Proverbs 10:21,  The lips of the righteous feed many: but fools die for want of wisdom.

Proverbs 15:7,  The lips of the wise disperse knowledge: but the heart of the foolish doeth not so.

And in the New Testament in Ephesians 4:29-32,  Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers. ³⁰And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption. ³¹Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice: ³²And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you.

And the last part or our Proverb:

but violence covereth the mouth of the wicked.

Proverbs 10:10,11,  He that winketh with the eye causeth sorrow: but a prating fool shall fall.  The mouth of a righteous man is a well of life: but violence covereth the mouth of the wicked.

This proverb as well as others tell us of the language of the body and in this case that language, the winking of the eye causes sorrow.

This is the use of the eye in a squinting fashion aimed at bringing threats of wrong actions to another.

The language of the body knows no bounds for every people, every tribe of the earth is proficient in it.

For the heart forces the body to do its bidding.

This proverb reminds us that the heart is not satisfied with simply communicating with the mouth so every part of the body is enlisted in the communication of rebellion.

When the mouth is not enough, the eyes and the feet and the fingers are employed to serve the hostility of the heart.

One of the marks of a sinner is the hypocrisy of the communication of the mouth compared with the communication of the body.

Jesus told us clearly to let our Yeas be Yea and our Nays be Nay.

And that is to include the yeas and nays of the body.

The spirit filled man or woman is to be one in both mouth and body.

There is to be an integrity in mind and heart where the mouth and body agree and communicate the same message.

There is to be no winking of the eyes communicating a different message from that which comes from the mouth for the winking with the eye causes sorrow.

As the Apostle Paul said to the Corinthians, we are to bring our bodies into subjection.

We do this by honesty and forthrightness of speech with which our body can gladly provide agreement.

When we walk in the Spirit of God both our mouth and our body will speak the truth.

For in Proverbs 10:11 we are told,  The mouth of a righteous man is a well of life: but violence covereth the mouth of the wicked.

We clearly know there is much said by the mouth but there is also much needed to be said about the mouth.

Recently we left our study of the epistle of James, the Apostle, who also gave instruction about the tongue and here again in this proverb we hear instruction concerning the tongue.

God surely knows what we need, for the tongue indeed is a fire, a world of iniquity, a defiler of the whole body, an unruly evil, full of deadly poison.

By the tongue, as James told us, we bless God and curse men, who are made in God’s image.

But the thing that we want to focus on today is that part of the tongue that blesses God for we are told in Proverbs 10:11 that:  the mouth of a righteous man is a well of life.

So we learn here today that the mouth does not have to be a fire, does not have to be a world of iniquity, nor a defiler of the whole body, nor an unruly evil, nor full of deadly poison.

For we are given a cure for a tongue like that, and that cure is righteousness.

For the mouth of a righteous man is a well of life:

So here we are given a particular man and a particular mouth that produces particular results.

First let us focus on what here is called a well of life.

Now the well that is being spoken of here reminds us of a well where men and women go to get the all important commodity of water.

For without water there cannot be physical life.

Our space scientists are diligently searching for water on other planets and moons so that they can also search for life forms, for with water they say life is possible.

The water that comes to you comes from wells that tap into the Alabama aquifer, water that comes to your homes after many miles of underground travel from the north.

So we also depend on a well of water for life.

God uses this important commodity to speak of what comes out of the mouth of a righteous man.

The mouth of such a man, a man who is righteous, brings forth life giving words.

Jesus told the Samaritan woman that the well that she should concentrate upon was the well that produced the water that would never let her thirst again.

It was the well that flowed water from the mouth of the very one who spoke to her that day.

The mouth of Jesus Christ is the ultimate well of life.

For He said in John 4:14,  But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.

I can attest to the truth of Christ’s words.

I drank of the water that Jesus gave me many years ago and I have never thirsted for other water.

The water that Jesus Christ gives, satisfies eternally.

It quenches every spiritual thirst.

Jesus again spoke of the well in John 7:38, when at the feast of tabernacles he said:

He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.

The righteous man is that man who has drunk of the water that Jesus has given him, the water by which he will never thirst again.

For this man walks in the righteousness of Christ which he received with the new birth, that birth of the Spirit of God which brings forth a new mouth, a mouth where the water of life flows freely.

It is water that springs up in his speech, water that provides the word of life to those who come to the well.

Jesus spoke of living waters coming out of this man’s belly meaning that the waters that the righteous man has to give are to satisfy the thirst of others.

They are to edify others, they are to build others up in the faith.

The righteous man utters words that are refreshing as cold waters to the thirsty soul.

They are words that promote the spiritual growth of the hearers.

Proverbs 10:21,  The lips of the righteous feed many: but fools die for want of wisdom.

Proverbs 15:7,  The lips of the wise disperse knowledge: but the heart of the foolish doeth not so.

Proverbs 17:23,  The heart of the wise teacheth his mouth, and addeth learning to his lips.

And in the New Testament in Ephesians 4:29-32,  Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers.  And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.  Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice:  And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you.

Now this is the status of the righteous man but as is the usual case our proverb provides a contrast for we are told in the last part of Proverbs 10:11,  but violence covereth the mouth of the wicked.

This is the second time this has been used in Proverbs 10 as a contrast to that of the righteous or just man for Proverbs 10:6 reads this way:

Blessings are upon the head of the just: but violence covereth the mouth of the wicked.

So here we are given a contrast between the mouth of the righteous and the mouth of the wicked.

One mouth, that of the righteous, is open, sending forth fountains of living waters to satisfy the thirst of others.

That is how Proverbs 10:11 is stated in the New American Standard version,  The mouth of the righteous is a fountain of life.

The mouth of the righteous not only satisfies the thirst of the hearers but it satisfies the thirst of the speaker for it allows him to depart from the snares of death.

Proverbs 13:14,  The law of the wise is a fountain of life, to depart from the snares of death.

So here the mouth of the righteous is called a fountain of life, because that which he speaks, as he speaks it, strengthens the hearers morally, elevates the hearers intellectually, and enlivens the hearers inwardly.

The second mouth, that of the wicked is closed or covered for the mouth of the wicked conceals violence.

There is a cover up taking place as to the wicked.

And that cover up is the result of violence.

There is no benefit coming from the mouth of the wicked for it is involved in the covering of sin.

It is involved in the manufacture of deceitful words, words that only are intended to do the wicked good but have no good for the hearer.

The wicked have much to cover up for they live a life of lies and deceit.

There has been violence done, both physically and mentally, which there is no wish for the light of day to reveal.

There is no desire on the part of the wicked to come forth with words for the good of the hearer but only that which is to the disadvantage and ruin of his neighbors.

The words of the righteous are to edify the hearers with the words of life while the words of the wicked simply serve for a covering to an immoral, and malicious life.

Truth always edifies but lies only destroy.