A PRAISING TONGUE IS THE
WORK OF GOD!
Psalm 34:11-14
11 Come, O children,
listen to me;
I will teach you the fear
of the Lord.
12 What man is there
who desires life
and loves many days, that
he may see good?
13 Keep your tongue
from evil
and your lips
from speaking deceit.
14 Turn away from
evil and do good;
seek peace and pursue
it.
Having invited the readers
to praise God, David now invites those who love and fear God to behave in a way
that would please Him. The Psalmist, after having told us to use our tongues to
praise God, reminds us not to use it in an evil way.
Remember what James says
about using our tongue?
James 3:9-12
9 With it we bless our
Lord and Father, and with it we curse people who are made in the likeness
of God. 10 From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers, these things ought not to
be so. 11 Does a spring pour forth from the same opening both
fresh and salt water? 12 Can a fig tree, my brothers, bear olives, or a
grapevine produce figs? Neither can a salt pond yield fresh water.
James is clearly stating
that it is wrong and unnatural for a believer, transformed by the Holy Spirit,
to use his mouth both to bless God and to speak against Him. In essence, every
time we complain or curse others, we are rebelling against the sovereignty of
God. As God said through James, “these things ought not to be so!”
We tend to forget that the
Bible states clearly that our words expose what is in our heart.
Luke 6:45
The good person out of the
good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil person out of his evil
treasure produces evil, for out of the abundance of the heart his
mouth speaks.
Our words should be always edifying.
Ephesians 4:29-32
29 Let no corrupting talk
come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the
occasion, that it may give grace to those who
hear. 30 And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom
you were sealed for the day of redemption. 31 Let all bitterness
and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all
malice. 32 Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one
another, as God in Christ forgave you.
Our words will please God
as long as wrong attitudes are put aside. Our hearts should be driven by grace.
Those who have received grace should be givers of grace.
I love these words by Peter:
1 Peter 1:22
Having purified your souls
by your obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly love, love one
another earnestly from a pure heart,
Real love is the result of
God’s transforming work in our heart. God’s word must produce obedience, and
submissive obedience will produce love that, in turn, will produce godly
attitudes and a loving heart that will promote godly speech.
David goes on to tell the
readers that they must pursue: that is, to earnestly desire and work at turning
away from what is ungodly to that which pleases God.
Sometimes we tend to
dismiss the words that come out of our mouths. We justify them as a response to
the poor behavior of others; we allow them, describing them as “just venting”.
We minimize the severity of our sin.
Dear friends, as I stop to
meditate on this Psalm, I cannot help but review my spoken words. Words are
heard by others and invite them to worship God, or to neglect the sovereignty
of God.
I must stop and review my
days, repent, and ask God to help me to change. I must prepare for my day in
prayer. Since you live in the world, you will have many opportunities to expose
what is in your heart. We better not be careless!
A little reminder… it
starts at home! God desires to work on our hearts. A praising tongue is the
work of God! The Lord is good, and He
deserves our praise!
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