Lord, I cry unto thee: make haste unto me; give ear unto my voice, when I cry unto thee. Let my prayer be set forth before thee as incense; and the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice. Set a watch, O Lord, before my mouth; keep the door of my lips. Incline not my heart to any evil thing, to practise wicked works with men that work iniquity: and let me not eat of their dainties.
Psalm 141:1-4
This Psalm begins with David’s urgent crying to the Lord for a listening ear. The nature of his plea is a CRY for help of a preventative nature. To this author, it seems we all should cry out to God for the same needs. This cry is not just a shallow, half-hearted request. David asks for it to be his Passover offering (v.2).
The first request pertains to a universal need of every person, Christian or not. He declares, “Set a watch, O Lord, before my mouth; keep the door of my lips.” The products of our lips can be either very helpful or very harmful. James 1:26 warns us to bridle (control) our tongue. Failure to do so deceives us, and our religion is vain. James also states in chapter 3, “If we offend not in word, the same is a perfect man (mature) and able to bridle the whole body.” He compares the power of the tongue to the bit in a horse’s mouth, the helm of a ship, and a flame of fire. He refers to the tongue as a world of iniquity. This small organ of our body “setteth on fire the course of nature; and is set on fire of hell.” This same little organ can also “bless God.” With this kind of potential in such a tiny organ, it is no wonder the psalmist pleads for help to control it in a way that blesses rather than harms.
David pleads again to God with a second request for the heart of the man controlling the tongue. “Incline not his heart to any evil thing, to practice wicked works with men that work iniquity:” Jesus speaks to this in Matthew 12:34-35. “O generation of vipers, how can ye, being evil, speak good things? For out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaketh. A good man out of the good treasure of the heart bringeth forth good things: and an evil man out of the evil treasure bringeth forth evil things.”
These words of Jesus Christ reveal that if we have a right heart, it will go a long way to controlling the little organ bent toward evil. In other words, the power of the tongue can be tempered or managed by the heart. We enjoy this control when we fill our minds with the Word of God and maintain a close relationship with Jesus Christ. A miracle occurs when a rough-talking sinner’s vocabulary changes after accepting Christ. His interpersonal relationships now grow from a heart of love instead of a bitter heart and tongue. We must thank our Savior for His amazing grace. His grace gives us good thoughts and words and cleanses us from the world’s filth.
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