Mind your mouth...

“Never make light of the king, even in your thoughts. And don’t make fun of the powerful, even in your own bedroom. For a little bird might deliver your message and tell them what you said.” Ecclesiastes 10:20

The Tenth Chapter reads like An episode of “Things my Mother Taught Me.”

• When you dig a well, you might fall in.
• When you demolish an old wall, you could be bitten by a snake.
• When you work in a quarry, stones might fall and crush you.
• When you chop wood, there is danger with each stroke of your ax.
• Using a dull ax requires great strength,so sharpen the blade.
• That’s the value of wisdom; it helps you succeed.
• If a snake bites before you charm it, what’s the use of being a snake charmer?
• Wise words bring approval, but fools are destroyed by their own words.
• Laziness leads to a sagging roof; idleness leads to a leaky house.

All of it seems full of common sense and we aren’t even tempted to debate the issues or tempt fate, but...wait! The smartest man in the history of the world closes with a lesson we find almost impossible to learn; “Never make light of the king, even in your thoughts. And don’t make fun of the powerful, even in your own bedroom. For a little bird might deliver your message and tell them what you said.”

I remember being told a story about a chaplain I’d never met. The story was unflattering and I said “if that’s true, he will never get promoted again.” The story was true, my prediction was not. Five years later he became my boss and he confronted my about my comment. How did he know? Why did he care? It doesn’t matter. He made it his mission to make my life miserable. And, he was pretty successful.

It doesn’t matter that he was petty and vindictive...it was my fault, the moment I opened my mouth five years earlier. Wouldn’t it be great if I only had to learn that lesson once? Well, that was neither the first nor the last time for me. Why does this seem to be the most difficult lesson to learn? 

Ashley Evans (https://biblereasons.com) says one of the ways that the Bible talks about the tongue, or the words that we speak, is by warning us about the sins of the tongue. Our words can injure others. Our tongue is one of our most dangerous weapons. What is worse, our words can reveal the sinful nature of our heart. 

Two of the Ten Commandments speak specifically about sins committed with the tongue: using the Lords name in vain, and bearing false witness against someone else (Exodus 20:7, 16.) Also, Jesus Himself warned us about the dangers of using our tongue rashly. Other sins of the tongue include boasting, licentious language, being critical, double-tongued, explosive uncontrolled angry words, hateful speech, or purposefully using obscure words to hide on a significant issue.

Proverbs 6:16-19 says “There are six things the Lord hates, seven that are detestable to him: haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked schemes, feet that are quick to rush to evil, a false witness who pours out lies and a person who stirs up conflict in the community.” That puts capricious speech in pretty serious company. It’s possible the turmoil in our lives is not because somebody is “out to get us.” It’s possible our untamed tongue already “got” us.

My favorite is Proverbs 26:20 “Without wood a fire goes out; without a gossip a quarrel dies down.” Don’t feed the beast!

Live boldly out there today...