Thursday, January 17, 2008
Psalm Intentional Taming To Do...

While I was resting in my school library, I decided to meditate on psalm 12. As I was meditating on this psalm, God spoke strongly about watching our tongues.

In v2-5
‘Everyone lies to his neighbor; their flattering lips speak with deception. May the LORD cut off all flattering lips and every boastful tongue that says, "We will triumph with our tongues; we own our lips—who is our master?" "Because of the oppression of the weak and the groaning of the needy, I will now arise," says the LORD. "I will protect them from those who malign them."

In v2, it mentions that EVERYONE lies to his neighbor, speaking words of deception to the people around them. Even as believers, we are capable of lying to the people around us. Just from v3-5, we can conclude 3 things:
The Lord is a God of justice;
He detests those with flattering lips and boastful tongues.
He will arise to protect the weak and needy from those who malign them.

Even as I was meditating on this psalm, the Lord reminded me of James 3, which talks about taming the tongue. Consider the following

James 3:5
‘The tongue is a small part of the body, but it makes great boasts.’
James 3:6
‘The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole person, sets the whole course of his life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell.’
James 3:8
‘No man can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison.’
James3:9
‘With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in God's likeness.’

James 3 was very clear in showing what our tongue was capable of doing. It has the power of giving life or bringing death to a person.

So what do we do with our tongues then? We certainly can’t cut it off. God has His purpose for giving us a tongue. So what was God’s original intention for giving us a tongue then?

I believe that He gave us a tongue to bring words of healing, encouragement, words that build people up.

The book of Proverbs talks a lot about our tongues and it gives us an idea of what our tongue is suppose to do. As shown in the following verses:

Proverbs 11:12
A man who lacks judgment derides his neighbor, but a man of understanding holds his tongue.
Proverbs 12:18-19
Reckless words pierce like a sword, but the tongue of the wise brings healing. Truthful lips endure forever, but a lying tongue lasts only a moment.
Proverbs 15:2
The tongue of the wise commends knowledge, but the mouth of the fool gushes folly.
Proverbs 15:4
The tongue that brings healing is a tree of life, but a deceitful tongue crushes the spirit.
Proverbs 21:23
He who guards his mouth and his tongue keeps himself from calamity
Proverbs 28:23
He who rebukes a man will in the end gain more favor than he who has a flattering tongue.

God gave us a tongue to bring words of healing, encouragement, words that build people up. So how can we do that then?
Clearly, we can’t do this by our own might for we are sinful in nature. That is the reason why we have to rely on God because just as it is said in Ps12:6, the words of the LORD are flawless, like silver refined in a furnace of clay, purified seven times…

Labels: Devotion, PSALM devotions