Your Tongue is a Powerful Tool

Your Tongue Is A Powerful Tool 

Psalm 12: 2-6

2They speak falsehood to one another;

With flattering lips and with a double heart they speak.

3May the Lord cut off all flattering lips,

The tongue that speaks great things;

4Who have said, "With our tongue we will prevail;

Our lips are our own; who is lord over us?"

5"Because of the devastation of the afflicted, because of the groaning of the needy,

Now I will arise," says the Lord; "I will set him in the safety for which he longs."

6The words of the Lord are pure words;

As silver tried in a furnace on the earth, refined seven times.

Did you know that your tongue has eight muscles?  I had no clue!  When we take the time to learn more about creation and the creator we will continue to be amazed.  While researching more about the tongue I realized the many things our tongues were designed to do.  The muscles in our tongues help us to lengthen and shorten it, curl and uncurl it as well as creating the shape of our tongues.  The flattening and rounding of our tongues help to provide shape and helps facilitate speech, swallowing, and eating. We use our tongues in society and culture to give gestures, as a figure of speech (i.e.. The word is on the tip of my tongue), to create body art, and in some cultures it is used as a source of food.  I have had to have this discussion with my children while at the grocery store recently.  That in some cultures the tongue is eaten as part of a meal.  The looks on their faces were priceless.  

I feel one of the most important things that we can use our tongues for is speech.  Our tongues, even though they are a smile muscle, they hold a lot of strength and power.  Our tongues are usually what gets us in trouble at home with our parents, at school with our teachers, at work and even with our closest friends.  When something comes off the tongue there is not way to take it back.  This is the disheartening part of living life.  We get so caught up in our emotions that words just fly off our tongue like leaves flying in the wind.  How many times has this happened to you?  You are upset with your child, your spouse or your boss and you say things.  Things, that if you really thought about it, you don’t really mean them.  You are just caught up in the moment.  In this psalm, it speaks about how the tongue communicates empty talk (falsehood), smooth talk (flattering), double talk and big talk.  It was a problem then and it is still a problem today.  We as humans continue to have difficulty controlling our tongues and how we treat others.  We must strive to be more like Christ every day and display those pure words to others.  Do you remember your mom or grandma saying, “If you can’t say anything nice, then don’t say anything at all.”  We are to lift each other up with words of affirmation.  Harsh words stir up trouble (Proverbs 15:1). Today, make it a priority to stop and think before you speak.  This is such a teachable moment with our children on how to do this.  I still need help in this area!  If you know me, words just come out of my mouth that should probably stay inside my head.  I get caught up in my conversations and get excited that I just don’t think before I speak.  I was just having this discussion with Josh about two weeks ago.  The good thing about learning another language is that you do a lot of stopping and thinking (or translating in your head) before you speak! 

Just remember, we are all a work in progress.  But we have to put effort into becoming more like Christ.  

Go out today and give words of encouragement, words of love, and words of truth to those you come in contact with.  Your words may be the only kind thing they hear.  

Prayer: Help me to stop and think before I speak today.  Give me the words to say to others that would be uplifting and loving.  Show me someone today who needs an encouraging word.  In Jesus Name I pray, Amen.