Remembering our speech is an overflow of our heart and taking our heart to the One who created it -
Using our words for healing, helping, encouraging … “apples of gold in settings of silver” -
Identifying “weeds” and getting rid of them … not speaking with malice, anger, unkindness, gossip –
But this week I stumbled on to a tool that I should have employed much earlier …
SHUTTING UP
Why might we need this tool?
· Negative emotions are fueling our words …
· The person in front of us can’t receive anything in this moment …
· We don’t know what we are talking about …
I’m going to use a prime example of this from the Bible, but PLEASE READ THE STORY IN THE BIBLE!!!
I’m talking about the book of Job. It is one of my favorites … I know … they are ALL my favorites, but seriously this one ends with one of the most fabulous speeches of the Lord ever (not that He has ever made a bad speech). So with that said DON’T MISS - JOB: 38- 41, but I hope you read the whole book.
The background of Job is that he was blameless and upright; he feared God and shunned evil. The Lord loved Job and Job loved Him. The Lord was totally proud of Job. Satan however, just as he does now, prowled around earth and argued with God.
The argument went like this (paraphrased – again read the story):
Satan – “Of course Job looks good and loves You – nothing ever goes wrong for him. You bless him, You protect him, what’s not to worship.”
God – “Game on – I know my guy and he loves Me no matter what.”
Some guidelines were put in place and the spiritual war began. Satan has some horrific weapons but absolutely none to defeat the Lord God Almighty … not loss of property, not poor health, not even death thrust in the midst of our life …
Spoiler alert! God wins!
So how does this relate to our tongue journey?
In the midst of the spiritual battle, along come some friends of Job. The whole situation was so awful that for the first 7 days they simply wept with Job and sat by him without speaking. Their friendship was complete.
And then they opened their mouths … Job to curse the day of his birth and his friends to begin telling him how he must have done something wrong to get these results.
The bottom line … horrible things were happening because a spiritual war raged all around. Things haven’t changed.
Let’s consider when to hold our tongues … someone may be blessed we did.