Our Favorite Proverbs: Proverbs 10:8, Don’t Forget to Execute

by Marilynn Chadwick

“The wise in heart will accept and obey commandments, but the foolish of lips will fall headlong.”

Proverbs 10:8 AMPC

In the Hebrew language, the words "listen" and "obey" are represented by the word “shema.” This means to hear, pay attention, and act upon what is heard. It embodies the concept that true listening includes obedience.

In Hebrew and Greek, the original languages of the Old and New Testaments, there is no distinct word for "obey." Listening and doing are considered two sides of one action. We see this sentiment expressed in James, often called the Proverbs of the New Testament. “Do not merely listen to the word and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says” (James 1:22 NIV). Another word for translating ideas into actions is “execute.”

For any business, the ability to execute is critical to the bottom line. In spiritual matters, we execute when we live out the truths we’ve learned in Scripture—we put feet on our faith. Proverbs and James exhort believers to execute—to be doers as well as hearers of God’s Word. "Faith without works is dead,” James challenges (James 2:26 NKJV).

God’s Word calls us to dig deep. Do we really believe our beliefs, or do we merely hold an intellectual assent to the faith? “Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror and after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like (James 1:23, 24).

Do we truly believe that Jesus’ death and resurrection covered our sin? If so, that belief should propel us into a life of action and good deeds. Have we found practical ways to be both a hearer and a doer of God’s commands and his calling?

Mother eagles are known to be quite nurturing. Yet their method for teaching their young ones to fly is a swift push out of the nest. They swoop down and catch the baby eaglets as they falter, repeating the flight lesson again and again until the little ones are soaring like... well, eagles! Just like a mama eagle, God sometimes pushes us out of our cozy nest of faith with a call to action. We may hear the Holy Spirit whisper, “Go there, to that one who needs the Father’s love. Serve this broken one over here. Share your living water with this thirsty one.”

Our heart begins to beat faster in response to the Holy Spirit’s promptings. We step out...take a risk...and find that our faith takes wings. We become doers, not just hearers of the Word. Our trust grows, and before you know it, we are soaring like an eagle!