Today’s Passage – Job 19 – 21
Then Job answered and said, How long will ye vex my soul, and break me in pieces with words? (Job 19:1 & 2)
I did not have to read that long this morning to find the truth from God that I needed. Job is in the middle of the discourse with his three ‘friends’ who are accusing him of all kinds of wickedness; adding sorrow on top of sorrows. He is already as low as he can go, but these guys continue to beat him and kick him when he is down; and their weapons are their tongues.
And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity: so is the tongue among our members, that it defileth the whole body, and setteth on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire of hell. … But the tongue can no man tame; it is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison. (James 3:6, 8 )
Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers. (Ephesians 4:29)
The Bible has so much to say about the deadly nature of the tongue. Why are we so quick to run our mouths when God tells us very plainly that we are to be slow to speak. We all could avoid much of our problems with our mouth by simply not saying anything unless it is absolutely necessary. If we have to speak at all maybe it would be best if we paused and prayed about what would be the best thing to say.
Job’s friends were not helping him at all; they were making him worse. Remember, the purpose for their visit was to ‘comfort’ him. Maybe they should have just listened to him; even let him vent a little. Maybe, I should try the same thing. As a pastor I need to learn to listen more; pray before speaking; and, as much as possible, tell people what God said instead of what I think.
Lord, help me not to kill or maim any more people with my tongue.
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That's such a great truth right there Pastor! I seem to have read right past that verse. I think its human tendency when someone is hurting or comes to us with a problem, we want to SPEAK. But many times, as the verse says, we 'break' people in pieces with our words instead. I've heard people joke that God gave us 2 ears and 1 mouth for a reason and that we should listen twice as much as we speak. I've noticed before, the Bible talks a lot about the power of the tongue- whether its used in a good way or a bad. When used to tear people down, the tongue is compared to a 'sharp rasor', a sword, and a serpent. That little member, yet so powerful. Although, when the tongue is used wisely- it is compared to 'choice silver' and a 'tree of life'.
Proverbs 18:21- Death and life are in the power of the tongue: and they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof.
Proverbs 21:23- Whoso keepeth his mouth and his tongue keepeth his soul from troubles.
We all could benefit greatly from those few things you mentioned.
I love this passage and I see the evil our speech can do everyday. when I am at work, dealing with the kids in the classroom and watching them curse at each other and throw threats around, I remind them that they are not only destroying the environment around them but how others will percieve them. There words are powerful and often lead them to detention or suspension.
I find that our strongest muscle in our body is our tongue. we can destroy, uplift or teach with our speech and what we say.