O LORD, I call to You, come quickly to me. Hear my voice when I call to You. May my prayer be set like incense before You; may the lifting up of my hands be like the evening sacrifice. Set a guard over my mouth, O LORD; keep watch over the door of my lips. Let not my heart be drawn to what is evil, to take part in wicked deeds with men who are evildoers; let me not eat of their delicacies. (Psalm 141:1-4)
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In the matter of one day, our mouths say a lot.
They encourage, speak truth, uplift, call out, show love, and worship God. Yet during that very same day, they lie, whisper enviously, tear down, speak hatred, gossip, belittle, and worship the self.
When unaware and unprotected, our loose lips utter contradictions.
Really though.
If I took note of every word that I spoke - and thought up - during a single day, I wonder how many contradictions I could find; how many words, phrases, and beliefs that would not fit with the TRUTH that I also speak.
But here is something that I have come to realize over the years: It is quite hard to follow a contradicting person - or dare I say - leader.
So if we are going to consistently lead people toward's God (which we all want), then we must realize just how destructive lose lips can be to the Kingdom of God. It is not a little scratch to cover up and let heal on its own. It is something that we must seek help with.
In today's psalm, King David desires to gain control over his lose lips.
In doing so, he eagerly approaches God: "O LORD, I call to You, come quickly to me. Hear my voice when I call to You. May my prayer be set like incense before You; may the lifting up of my hands be like the evening sacrifice..."
What we know from this psalm is that it was given during the day in response to a present struggle. In fact, David sung it during the "evening prayer," which took place in the afternoon at 3 o'clock. Here, he earnestly prays for his words to be a sweet smell to the LORD - like the incense they burned during the prayer.
I think that this teaches us a BIG principle: Unless we chose to act when convicted, our lose lips and immature minds will always seem to distract us from obedience.
This is why we experience conviction, promise God to obey, yet forget to ever put it into our daily practice. You see, conviction should always breed obedience.
And here, David notices a personal struggle and quickly prays for relief. And this is what he asks for: "Set a guard over my mouth, O LORD; keep watch over the door of my lips. Let not my heart be drawn to what is evil...let me not eat of their delicacies."
He asks to no longer speak against the Lord. He begs to no longer desire the allure of evil. And He asks to not take part in what the world offers.
This is the prayer of the righteous.
We all need the Lord to direct our words away from contradictions. We need a realization - a filter - to what we say and how we say it.
And this filter comes only from the LORD. He is the one who "keeps watch" over the door of our lips. Literally, God is the only one who can give us the strength, determination, and knowledge to properly distinguish between what to say and what not say.
But protecting our lips demands us also protecting our hearts. This is why David asks to no longer be drawn towards evil. He sees all that the world entitles as "delicacies" - all the things that the world holds dear - and asks for the Lord to change his view of them.
If he was going to speak without contradictions then he would need a heart that longed for God as the only true delicacy.
And this is what we must realize for ourselves today. If we are going to rid ourselves of lose lips and all contradictions, then we must ask the Lord to teach us to filter and to transform what we hold as dear.
I challenge you with this: Watch what you say with the help of the Lord. And keep your lips and your heart from all contradictions.
We would love to know: What stood out to you today? Do you struggle with the words of your mouth? Let us know by commenting in today's Instagram post! (Instagram.com/DeclareGlory)
Blessings,
Greg, Declare Glory
