My Daily Pause

The tongue is as powerful as a ship’s rudder

The right word spoken at the right time
is as beautiful as gold apples in a silver bowl.

A wise warning to someone who will listen
is as valuable as gold earrings or fine gold jewelry. – Proverbs 25:11-12 NCV

Nothing can change a situation faster than words. Even the words I select in this post will determine your decision to finish reading it.

Like the Proverb writer, we love to be around those that always seem to know just the right words to say. Right or wrong, we choose our leaders, form opinions and make life altering decisions based on the words of others.

But we can be like that for them!

Not all of us need to be great orators, but training our tongue is a God given duty. It is how we are able to carry out the great commission. (Matthew 28:18-20) Look at what James said about the power of the tongue: James 3:2-10. When offering God to others, let’s make sure our words right ones spoken at the right time.

Words can talk us into things we shouldn’t do.

The words of fools will ruin them;
their own words will trap them. – Proverbs 18:7 NCV

Words have a way of flowing out easily and whether we like it or not, describe exactly what is on the heart. (Matthew 15:18)

We can also use enough words to ease into sinful lifestyles:

• We fool ourselves into justifying our actions
• We fool ourselves into believing we are actually doing good
• We fool ourselves into believing our own falsehoods

Upon closer examination, the justifications for error and sin do not hold up to the scrutiny of God’s word. In Proverbs 10:14 we see the need to gain knowledge through study so that we avoid this trap:

The wise lay up knowledge…

Good command of the Scriptures helps prevent us from being a victim of words of a fool. The tongue is described by James to be as powerful as a ship’s rudder or the bit in a horse’s mouth. (James 3) He also shows us that power works for both good and bad.

In the end, it is not possible to live in a way pleasing to God by trying to fool him with good intentions and flawed reasoning. That’s a trap that will only fool ourselves.

And the trap is difficult to escape.