Job 6:25

How powerful are words of truth?

   Yet what can your arguing prove?

(Written 3/10, Posted  3/31 )

I am cleaning up my office and catching up on some new music to go on the phone. Nothing has really changed, I just decided to undertake these tasks. I bought my replacement printer, but the old one still has ink, so I have a huge space on my desk that is not clear, and it is driving me bonkers…or in the words of Krokus “Driving me insane.”

“Forceful”, “painful”, “forcible”, “trenchant”, and “eloquent” were options that I turned into “powerful”. “Eloquent” seemed out of touch, “painful” in the other direction, “trenchant” would have forced me to look it up, and “powerful” just seemed more on target. “Honest”, “right”, and “true” were suggested adjectives for “words”, but I revised the order to match my ideal of the idea.

In place of “prove”, other options were “reprove”, “teach”, “rebuke”, and “demonstrate”.  “Rebuke” comes from a totally different phraseology (is that a word?) that I think is applicable (What rebuke is a rebuke from you?), but I went the different route that maintains the power of words or lack thereof. The other bits are insignificant for this stitch.

Job is saying there is power in words, but that those of his companions are worthless. A vision of grandeur is thinking one can know it all. And therefore, be better than everyone else. No one can know everything about everything. The goal is to know enough about the important stuff to not wipe your rear with live poison oak. It is indeed a desperate man that needs to wipe his rear with leaves, but to be in that situation and not know what is worse than a messy rear is pretty bad. I never taught my kids what poison oak looks like, but I hope I have taught them a few important aspects of life here on earth. My arguing a point does not make it so, but if I know what is true and speak only it, my words can have power.