God brought me to a place this month in His word where I was confronted with a verse in Ecclesiastes 5. It’s a line penned by Solomon near the end of his life, included in a book of repentance understanding that he squandered a lot of the blessings the Lord has given him. In it, he says,
Throughout the Word, I’ve found dozens of reasons people use their tongue. Those that are condemnable are: cursing god, blaspheming God, falsely accusing someone, perversity, rashness, harshness, wickedness, boasting, lying, flattering, bitterness, nitpicking, adulterous flirtation, busy-bodying, gossip, whining, complaining, needless quarreling, and plain old stupid talk. The redeemable and profitable uses of the tongue I found in scripture are worship, prayer, grace, teaching, counsel, preaching, kindness, truth, comfort, love, healing, sweetness, encouragement, hope, mercy, gentleness, conviction, and words of faith.
As I kept reading through James 3, I watched the brother of Jesus challenge us to watch our actions. He than moves into a place of guarding our thoughts. But the thing that James says is the last to be sanctified is the tongue. And scripture is clear that what comes out of the mouth is what is pouring out of our hearts.
So this month I took a week to be silent. It was one of the harder things I’ve ever done, not because I had important things to say, but because I want to be heard. Silence forced me out of the limelight and made me listen to the things people were saying – both verbally and non-verbally. And so sadly, I’ve missed so much that people have been trying to say to me for a long time because I thought my words were important. Silence meant I had to trust the Lord to speak through other people, and allowed him to speak to me more clearly. Silence forced me to humble myself and not be the solution to problems, but to watch God answer and satisfy people’s needs and longings. At home, I almost always fall asleep to an iPod or to the television because then I don’t have to be alone with the Lord to let him deal with the things he needs to deal with. Silence forces you to deal with issues in your heart.
But perhaps the best part of silence is how clearly God is willing to talk to us if we’ll just shut up and listen. God gave me words to build up other people this month – and I truly believe it was because for the first time in a long time, it wasn’t my words. Solomon got it, let YOUR words be few. Let my words become silenced, and allow the words that come out of my mouth be from the Lord.
As I kept silent and thought about what I wanted to say, I was embarrassed at how many things from the first list above came to my mind. I let my mind go to inappropriate jokes, gossip, harsh and cruel teasing, complaining, excuse making, boasting…and much less frequently were the words I was desiring to speak edifying and worshipful. But by God’s grace, I saw that and am now aware of it. God revealed a lot to me about my tongue, and now he’s asking me to allow him to refine and sanctify my tongue.
So pray for me as I am hoping to continue to tame that beast.
