Guarding Our Mouths with Humility
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Putting a Guard on Your Mouth
Have you ever said things you wished never escaped your lips? Of course, we all have! You can edit or delete a tweet or an email, but you can't recapture words spoken in haste, nor pull them out of the air as if they were never said.
It’s easy to point to others saying worse things than we have—blame-shifting and diversion—but this doesn’t excuse us. So, why do we say things we regret later?
The primary culprits are anger, defensiveness, fear, and stress, just to name a few. But how can we keep ourselves from lashing out or overreacting with our words? We need help! Not self-help, but supernatural spiritual help.
The key to being careful with what comes out of our mouths is to surrender our hearts and lives to the One who knows us best. This is what we see King David do in this psalm.
I see this prayerful psalm express four humble appeals to the Lord. King David, once again, shows us how to pray in an honest and humble way.
Scripture
A psalm by David.
O Lord, I cry out to you, “Come quickly.” Open your ears to me when I cry out to you.
Let my prayer be accepted as sweet-smelling incense in your presence.
Let the lifting up of my hands in prayer be accepted as an evening sacrifice. [vss 1-2]
O Lord, set a guard at my mouth. Keep watch over the door of my lips.
Do not let me be persuaded to do anything evil or to become involved with wickedness, with people who are troublemakers.
Do not let me taste their delicacies. [vss 3-4]
A righteous person may strike me or correct me out of kindness. It is like lotion for my head.
My head will not refuse it, because my prayer is directed against evil deeds.
When their judges are thrown off a cliff, they will listen to what I have to say. It will sound pleasant to them.
As someone plows and breaks up the ground, so our bones will be planted at the mouth of the grave. [vss 5-7]
My eyes look to you, Lord Almighty.
I have taken refuge in you. Do not leave me defenseless.
Keep me away from the trap they set for me and from the traps set by troublemakers.
Let wicked people fall into their own nets, while I escape unharmed. [vss 8-10]
(Psalm 141:1-10 GW) [Context– Psalm 141]
Reflections and Insights
Here are four humble appeals, called petitions, that King David expresses to the Lord.
Prayerful humility (verses 1-2)—
David cries out to God with an appeal for God to "open" His ears and accept David's prayer as a "sweet-smelling incense." He gives us a picture of the posture of his heart before God—with hands lifted up in surrender to God.
David offers his prayer and himself to God as an evening sacrifice offered in the temple of God. This is a familiar picture to Jewish worshippers in his time. From a pastor’s point of view, it needs to become a more familiar picture to us in our churches today.
Watchful humility (verses 3-4)—
David then asks God to set a guard at his mouth and "keep watch over the door of my lips." David knew he needed God's help to keep him from overreacting and being pulled into anything evil.
David understood what Jesus said about the connection between the mouth and the heart—"For the mouth speaks from what fills the heart" (Matt 12:34 NET). So David connects the surrender of his heart to God (vss 1-2) with the words of his mouth, just as each of us needs to do.
Teachable humility (verses 5-7)—
In these verses, David expresses his willingness to be corrected and taught what is right. He bows his head in humility and surrender to be corrected and taught as the Lord chooses.
David's heart is surrendered to God in acknowledgment of his need and his openness to be corrected when he is wrong. This is a glimpse of what Jesus revealed to us as the Son of Man in the gospels.
Everyone who believes and trusts in God is called to the same surrender of our hearts and lives (Luke 9:23).
Trustful humility (verses 8-10)—
This fourth and last stanza summarizes David's prayer. He seeks refuge in the Lord and looks to the Lord as if he's the personal servant of God. Again, David appeals to God to guard him from being caught up in whatever evil may come.
This great warrior-king of Israel shows his trusting dependence in the One he knows as the Lord sovereign over all. The Lord Almighty is David’s refuge. When you and I surrender our hearts and lives to the Lord with honesty and humility, we can be sure the Lord hears us and watches over us.
Reflection—
Are you willing to approach God in prayer with humility, as David did? God hears the cry of our hearts and mouths when we come to Him in genuine humility.
Prayer Focus—
When you come before the Lord, remember how He heard David’s honest and humble prayer requests. You can start with thankfulness to the Lord to help you gain a humble perspective.
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