Proverbs 15:28,  The heart of the righteous studieth to answer; but the mouth of the wicked poureth out evil things.

All students of geometry are required to prove theorems.

Do you remember proving that if two parallel lines are cut by a transversal the alternate interior angles are equal?

Also the alternate exterior angles are equal.

Geometry would not be geometry without proofs.

To help in this effort of proving geometrical propositions we list that which is given in the problem.

We then, through logical means using mathematical principles, lead to a conclusion or a proof of the proposition.

Many proverbs are similar to theorems. First a given and then a conclusion.

Here in this proverb we are given two propositions.

The given of the first proposition is the heart of the righteous.

The proposition is that this heart studies to answer.

The given of the second proposition is the mouth of the wicked.

The proposition is that this mouth poureth out evil things.

Different acts by different people.

Different results by different people. One person righteous and one person wicked!

No middle ground here, just clear conclusions as theorems in geometry.

In both cases the mouth is used but in one case the heart is engaged as a resource for the mouth and in the other case whatever resource is used is at the ready and no delay is needed.

In one case the heart studies but in the other case the mouth pours.

The word studies means to ponder or to meditate.

It implies the use of time for study before speaking.

The word poureth means to gush or emit.

It is the same Hebrew word that is translated to belch.

It indicates uncontrolled speaking just as a belch is uncontrolled.

Just as a belch is used to exhale corruption so too this mouth pours forth evil.

So we have here a comparison between controlled speaking and uncontrolled speaking.

Controlled speaking is attached to the righteous and uncontrolled speaking is attached to the wicked.

Very clear is it not, as to what comes from the righteous and what comes from the wicked?

Controlled speaking includes an allowance of time to go to the heart and get that which is needed to formulate an answer.

Uncontrolled speaking does not include that delay time with the conclusion that the evil that is poured forth is at the lips of the wicked mouth and no delay is needed to formulate an answer.

In other words that which comes forth from the mouth of the wicked is that which is natural.

Evil poureth forth because it comes from the natural man and not the supernatural man.

The natural man has nothing to ponder, nothing to study before he lets loose his words.

So evil things pour forth from the mouth of the wicked as there is no other option, no other resource for the wicked.

But the righteous have an option.

The righteous have no excuse for playing the wicked.

The righteous have a resource to go to.

They have a heart that is planted by God, a heart that is filled with a treasure that can be tapped for answers founded upon wisdom.

Jesus Christ in Luke 6:45 said,  A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is evil: for of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaketh.

Both have a treasure in their heart, a good treasure or an evil treasure and both go to their heart to get that which moves the mouth.

But the righteous heart must study to answer since this is supernatural.

There is much in the heart of the righteous to study prior to an answer.

There is much there to ponder.

David in Psalm 119:11-13 wrote,  Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee. Blessed art thou, O LORD: teach me thy statutes. With my lips have I declared all the judgments of thy mouth.

Notice where David went to when he engaged his lips in speaking.

He went to his heart!

He went to a heart that had the treasure of God's word in it.

He went to a heart whose delight was in the law of the LORD.

He went to a heart that meditated on the word of God in the night watches.

He went to a heart that had meditated of all God's work, that had meditated in God's precepts, and statutes.

He went to a heart that had prayed for the Lord to set a watch before his mouth.

He had prayed for the Lord to keep the door of his lips.

How does the Lord keep the door of the lips.

How does he stand guard at the mouth?

The treasure of the heart keeps the door of the lips.

The treasure has to be put there through the study of God's word.

David knew that God's word was the key.  Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee.

David had the treasure of God's word in his heart so that when the time came he had a resource from which to draw and that resource activated the door of his lips.

He went to a heart that was in charge of his mouth.

He went to a heart that only allowed his mouth to speak after the heart studied the matter in the light of the good treasure of his heart.

The wise man is ready always to give an answer to him that asketh a reason of the hope that lieth in him.

How is the wise man ready?

A wise man is a prepared man. A wise man is a studying man, a meditating man, a praying man.

He is a man who continually supplies his heart with the treasure of the Word of God so that when the time comes he has a place to go to get wisdom to supply his mouth.

But the wicked is not so. The wicked has nothing to keep the door of his lips.

His door swings open without restraint.

He has no care in what pours forth from the door of his mouth because the only resource he has to draw from is a heart that is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked.

And it is an efficient heart, requiring no time to pour forth its evil.

His heart is filled with evil treasure and evil easily comes forth from a heart that is not cleansed by the word of God.

Why does James caution us to be swift to hear but slow to speak?

Because he expects us to go to the good treasure of the heart and study before we answer.