Proverbs 9:1Wisdom has built her house; she has set up its seven pillars.Proverbs Daily is a reader-supported publication. All posts are free, but all donations help spread the message. When you see the word “upgrade,” you’re simply invited to help me make the sacred positively contagious...thank you in advance for becoming a free or paid subscriber.We live in an age drowning in words. From social media scrolls to 24-hour news cycles, from podcasts to rap verses — language is everywhere. The sheer volume of what we hear and say has exploded. Let’s look at rap, for example: Myka 9 — (formerly of freestyle fellowship), was ranked the mc with the largest vocabulary in hip hop in 2022; using over 9,000 unique words from any other rapper ever in his catalog! And before him, Aesop Rock held that title with over 7,000 words that no other mc even tried to use. Yeah, I know — super-nerdy hip hop trivia… but it proves my point: we’ve built a world that runs on words.And just like that — I’ve said too much. Because Proverbs 10:19 cuts through the noise: “Too much talk leads to sin.”My little rap-nerd rant, just illustrated it. Sin doesn’t necessarily mean a moral decline or failure. Like you’re not about to “hit somebody in the head” or “rob a bank” but it means that you go off path…that’s what sin means. It means that you begin to generate too much output — and with so much output you lose filter, you lose depth, and eventually you’ll lose wisdom.Now, think about how this parallels our tech world today. AI, which we all talk about now, runs on LLM’s (Large Language Models) — trained on trillions of words. It absorbs, predicts, and generates new language — like an echo that keeps echoing, louder and faster with each loop. That’s us too. We’re co-citizens in a linguistic economy where speech is currency — and using it as well as ‘mis-using’ it has cost.So how do we balance this real world of verbal velocity? We can’t escape it — but we can navigate it.Proverbs doesn’t call for silence for silence’s sake. It calls for disciplined restraint — what I’ll call the “sensible shut-up” (yeah, shut it up…all down in ya bones). In other words: think twice, and then speak once — or better yet, say less and when you say it, say it well.Here are two simple ways to practice that: 1️⃣ Mid-sentence Pause — when your mouth is racing, hit a pause. It pulls people in, and it helps you process better. 2️⃣ Muse Before You Speak — let your thoughts breathe before they burst out. I actually had three, but I only gave you two — Why? Because I’m gonna practice what I’m preaching.Remember You don’t need to speak the longest — you need to speak the wisest.PrayerLord, help me say less— so wisdom can speak moreToday’s ChallengeMake fewer words carry greater weight.Catch yourself mid-sentence and pause.Or let silence do some talking. It’ll make your next word—worth the wait.About the AuthorFred Lynch is a creative communicator, author, and Christian Hip Hop pioneer. To learn more about Fred and what he’s up to now…click here or you can find him in all the socials by searching the handle: heyfredlynch📱Experience Proverbs Daily by Subscribing!Ready to receive daily wisdom directly on your phone?Go to proverbsdaily.org for the app or just click that Subscribe button right now!
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