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 please Him. The Psalmist, after having told us to
use our tongues to praise God, also reminds us not to use them in an evil way.
What do our words expose about our
faith?
James
3:9-12
With it we bless our Lord and Father,
and with it we curse people who are made in the likeness of God. From
the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My
brothers, these things ought not to be so. Does a spring pour
forth from the same opening both fresh and salt water? Can a fig tree, my
brothers, bear olives, or a grape vine 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 people
He has created in His image. 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!”
What do our words expose about our
hearts?
We
tend to forget that the Bible states clearly that our words expose what is in
our hearts.
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
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. And do not grieve the
Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day
of redemption. Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and
slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one
another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave
you.
Our hearts should be driven by grace.
Our
words will please God as long as wrong attitudes are put aside. 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 hearts. God’s word must
produce obedience, and submissive obedience will produce love that, in turn,
will produce godly attitudes and a loving hearts
that promote godly speech.
David
goes on to tell the readers that they must pursue peace: that is, to earnestly
desire it and to turn from what is ungodly to that which pleases God.
Don’t overlook what you say!
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 own spoken
words. Words are heard by others and invite them either to worship God, or to
neglect the sovereignty of God.
I
must stop and review my days, then 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’d 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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