Proverbs 20:19
The one who goes about gossiping reveals secrets;
therefore do not associate with someone who is always opening his mouth.
Unfortunately, I’ve been wounded by this proverb. In fact, not following this proverb end up costing me a great deal. It cost me in emotional turmoil and it cost me quite a bit of money.
I don’t want to get into all the ins and outs of what happened. But, the basics are that I trusted someone with some information that I shouldn’t have trusted. And because I trusted them when I shouldn’t have trusted them, I got burned. And I got burned bad.
I should have known better. If someone talks about others to you, they talk to others about you too. That’s a pretty good rule to live by. And this person talked to me about others. On a pretty regular basis. That should have been a sign to me that this person would talk to others about me. That should have been a clue that this person would share things that I didn’t want to be shared. And that should have been a clue to me that this person would share the things that I didn’t want to be shared, with the one person I didn’t want them to be shared with.
And that is exactly what happened.
As I mentioned it cost me a great deal. It cost me monetarily, emotionally. It cost me in some relationships and it cost me in my reputation.
In retrospect, it would have been better not to associate with that person. That would have prevented such things from happening. Thankfully, we have a God who is able to redeem things and use all kinds of circumstances to work things out in us, and that is exactly what happened. The now that I’m living is much better than it would have been had I stayed where I was.
Be careful, if someone talks about others to you, they talk to others about you too.