This article is an excerpt from day fifteen of The Psalms Aflame, a twenty-five day devotional on the Psalms. To download the entire devotional click here.
Read Psalm 5
The unbridled tongue sets forest fires ablaze. Friends and foes may be consumed in the careless inferno it creates. C.S. Lewis observes the prevalence of evil in the tongue. “The Psalmists mention hardly any kind of evil more often than this one…Their throat is an open sepulcher, they flatter” (5:9). “Under his tongue is ungodliness and vanity” (10:7), “deceitful lips” (12:3), the “whispering“ of evil men (41:7), cruel lies that “cut like a razor” (52:3), talk that sounds “smooths as oil” and will wound like a sword (55:22), pitiless jeering (102:8). “Not a word from (the wicked) can be trusted. Their heart is filled with malice. Their throat is an open grave; with their tongues they tell lies” (5:9).
But the godly man harnesses his tongue. He reigns it in. He uses his tongue for righteousness, to lay requests before the Lord expectantly (5:3), to cry out to God (5:1). Jesus said, “the mouth speaks what the heart is full of” (Matthew 12:34). The tongue is just the bucket that draws out water from the heart. Using a different analogy, James gives the tongue more power. The tongue is the rudder, he says. A little rudder can steer a mighty ship (James 3:4).
So what direction do you want that ship to go in? “Life and death is in the power of the tongue” (Proverbs 18:21). Grab that rudder and point it to life. Banish deceit from your lips; flattery, judgments, pessimism, needless talking of other’s weaknesses. “Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up” (4:29). So let us speak life. Praise. Hope. Laughter. Song. Let us speak Jesus. Yes, let his good news be on our lips.
Tags: praise, say, words, speak, psalm 5
