12.06.07
“USE WITH CAUTION!”
Psalm 141:3-4
“Set a guard, O LORD, over my mouth; keep watch over the door of my lips. Do not incline my heart to any evil thing, to practice wicked works with men who work iniquity; and do not let me eat of their delicacies.”
Back in the 50’s when I was finishing up my college degree, I worked as a county Probation Officer. The Juvenile Court Judge was a sheer delight. He was a page out of history, what with his bow tie, white hair and a wit that always kept attorneys on their toes. His name was Ben Riordan, and he taught me so many practical things about life that I recall them even to this day. I counted it one of my greatest honors to be able to go into his chambers during the recess of court cases and hear his wisdom and understanding of the law and of human nature. His memory lives in my heart!
Judge Riordan was very much aware of the dangers and evils of the tongue. I am sure he didn’t invent the phrase (well, perhaps he did invent it); “You can remain silent and look stupid, or you can open your mouth and remove all doubt.” Another saying that he used frequently was: “That fellow is so stupid, that when he speaks, he subtracts from the sum total of human intelligence.” Trying to corral the tongue is a constant battle!
One of the classes I took in college was debate. We learned how to make cases, establish proofs and to refute the opposition in their arguments. It was not enough to take one side of a particular issue–you had to debate, both in support of the issue, or against it.
The culmination of our semester was a debate tournament. Our College Debate Squad was made up of four, two-person teams. There were two of us, myself and Orville Hailey, who were married and working full-time while also attending college classes, so we lacked the time to prepare as the other students. The teams were ranked by their coaches from one to four, with the best being number one and four being the lowest. Orville and I were ranked four–Get the picture? Each team had to argue one debate on the negative side and one on the positive side.
For our first debate Orville and I were pitted against the number four team from another school. Amazingly we won! But our second match was against their number one team who had the positive and we the negative. During the debate they were wiping us out! I whispered to Orville that we had to let them kill themselves.
We quietly belittled every argument they proposed and asked why they could not come forward with any valid argument. We offered very few of our own arguments, but discounted their much more elaborate presentation. Bingo! We won again!! We were the only team from our school that took both of their debates. The coach wanted to move us up to number one or two, but we decided to go into retirement and not let the others know just how bad we were.
The tongue is a terrible weapon. It is the revealer of the heart and those hidden motives that lurk out of the sight of others. In a previous chapter, Psalm 139:4, we read; “For there is not a word on my tongue, But behold, O LORD, You know it altogether.”
With that in mind, is it any wonder then why the Psalmist is here asking the Lord to set a watch over his tongue. We say things so quickly and after we try to take the words back, the damage has already been done.
It reminds me of a story I heard about a traveling evangelist who was holding a meeting in a church he had never visited before. He and the pastor were bantering back and forth prior to the start of the service. The evangelist noticed a very ugly woman in the third row. He leaned over to the pastor and asked; “Who is that ugly woman in the third row?” The pastor replied; “That is my wife.” Grasping for a way to get himself out of a predicament the evangelist said, “No not her, the one next to her.” The pastor looked back with a scowl and said, “That sir, is my daughter!”
Have you ever had days like that? What can you say after the words have done their damage? I have to feel that the Psalmist uttered his prayer for the Lord to set a guard on his mouth. It was a prayer of commitment on his part and it needs to be a commitment on our part. We need to pray for the Lord to purify our thought processes. We need to devote ourselves to speak words that will build up and encourage, rather than tear down and depress.
Eight or nine years after the debate I mentioned, I was working for the State of Idaho Law Enforcement Planning Commission. As deputy director I was interviewing an attorney to go to work for us. As I looked at his credentials, I saw that he had graduated from the college we had debated. In fact he was a member of the team we had defeated. He said they would have won if they had kept their mouths shut! We laughed, and became close friends after he came to work for us.
During a terrible, depressing time in his life when he shut out everyone for quite awhile, I was the only one he would talk with. I can still recall driving around with him slouched down as I tried to quietly encourage him. Very few words were spoken. It was a time presence rather than speaking. The words that I did speak were words the Lord had sifted, and they were words of healing. He recovered and was restored. I learned another lesson about words–use them with caution! We need to speak words of peace, joy, love and encouragement.
Blessings dear hearts. Walk with God today, trust Him completely and be a blessing.
— Pastor Cecil