If you have been foolish, exalting yourself, or if you have been devising evil, put your hand on your mouth. –Proverbs 30:32
Let another praise you, and not your own mouth; a stranger, and not your own lips. –Proverbs 27:2
One pretends to be rich, yet has nothing; another pretends to be poor, yet has great wealth. –Proverbs 13:7
Even though I am a Viking’s fan, I miss Detroit Lion’s Barry Sanders. Even though I am a Cubs fan, I miss St. Louis Cardinals’ Lou Brock. Then, there’s also Nolan Ryan. If you are under 20, you may be thinking, “Who?” Barry Sanders is probably the greatest running back ever in NFL history. I miss him, not for his spectacular runs—and there were many of them—but for the fact he always handed the ball to the referee after scoring a touchdown. No audacious spikes. No dancing. No Broadway antics. Just football.
When Lou Brock broke the all-time base stealing record, he didn’t say or do anything but just stood on second base waiting for the game to go on, that is until his team mobbed him enthusiastically. On the other hand, when Oakland A’s base stealing wizard, Ricky Henderson, passed Lou Brock, he ceremoniously grabbed the base for himself and in an impromptu speech declared himself the greatest ever. He was the greatest ever, but why not let your game make the announcement and not your mouth?
The great pitcher, Nolan Ryan, on pitching his record-breaking fifth career no-hitter also started walking quietly off the field before being cut off by his teammates ala Lou Brock. He went onto to pitch seven no-hitters, the last at age 44. When he pitched his 5,000th strikeout, the game didn’t stop, and he didn’t even leave the pitching mound. For each milestone, he had the same humble response. When you are good, you don’t need to say it.
We live in an age of self-promotion, particularly due to social media. Anyone with a camera and a few minutes can “pretend to be rich” in a skill or knowledge even though he may be as poor as a church mouse in those areas. Sadly, people will follow almost anybody.
Why did Solomon give this advice on wisdom? Perhaps it is because he instinctively knew self-promotion may take us too far up the ladder, too quickly, with too little character to sustain at the top. If that happens, the result can be catastrophic. There is a long list of professional athletes who ended up wrecking their careers, their marriages, their bank accounts, and their lives due to this very thing.
God knows what amount of recognition and prosperity we can handle and when we can handle it; therefore, we trust Him to exalt us in “proper time.” (1 Peter 5:6) For some, that may be when they are eighteen or nineteen, but for others—perhaps the vast majority—it won’t be until much later. The good news is, the older we are when we experience God’s promotion, the less likely we will be to lose it. After all, God says wisdom is with the aged. (Job 12:12)
Obviously, there is nothing wrong with informing our community of services or products we provide via advertising, but rather than our mouth telling others how great we are, we should trust our Christian witness, honesty, integrity, skill set, and, above God, to have the final word. A previous quote shared by Bob Schulz is once again appropriate, “Stay as small as you can for as long as you can.” Let God promote you. A culture that is a quarter mile wide but only a quarter inch deep needs some more Barrys, Lous, and Nolans.
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