The Power Of The Tongue, Wisdom In Listening, And Trusting The Lord With Our Circumstances 

Proverbs 18, Proverbs 29:11, James 1

When John asked me to write a devotional for the newsletter, I felt a little intimidated but was also excited about the opportunity to encourage others. I wasn’t sure what I would write about. But after some time of thinking and praying, I felt the Lord leading me to write about the power of our tongue and how there is wisdom in listening rather than in speaking our minds. Oftentimes when we speak our minds, we’re doing it because we are discontented in our circumstances. (James 1:19b “But everyone must be quick to hear, slow to speak and slow to anger;” Proverbs 29:11 “A fool speaks his whole mind but a wise man quietly holds it back.”)

I have a few points that I want to talk about today, the first being:

1. Emotions are terrible leaders, and we should never allow our feelings to dictate our actions.

I think often, we as women just want to be heard. We feel a certain way because of a certain situation and think we are justified in that feeling. Therefore, we tend to voice how we feel to our husbands, our friends, or our family members. It’s not always bad to voice how we feel. Communication is good, right? But I think it’s important to stop and ask ourselves the question – “Is what I’m voicing glorifying to the Lord, or am I just satisfying my flesh in speaking my mind?” James encourages us in chapter 1 to be slow to speak. This leads to my next point. 

2. What is my motive?

We need to continually ask ourselves why we’re doing what we’re doing.

We need to check our hearts and ask ourselves, What is the motivation behind our speaking? Are we speaking out of frustration? Are we seeking self-pity? Are we speaking from a discontented heart? Are we attempting to build someone up and honor God with our words? In asking ourselves these questions, I think it helps to recenter our minds on whether we are seeking self-pleasure or glorifying the Lord in our actions and words. Sometimes, it’s easy to become hyper-focused on a particular circumstance or emotion, when often it’s much less critical than it seems. I want to challenge us to stop and take the time to really think about what is happening before we speak. Is it really as important as it seems? Usually, the answer is no.

3. Are we speaking before giving thought to what we say?

When this happens we are generally doing 1 of 3 things. 

1. Slandering others
2. Gossiping about others or, 
3. Giving full vent to our anger by expressing our feelings. 

Anytime I start spewing words, whether it be out of frustration, or because I heard some new piece of news that I feel I should tell my close friends, a verse that often comes to mind is Matthew 12:36, “every careless word that people speak, they shall give an account for it in the day of judgement.” I think this verse is sobering and should cause us to stop and consider everything we say. It’s very easy to speak without any thought, but we should never forget that one day we will stand before the almighty God and give an account for every word spoken. 

In closing, I want to touch on how our circumstances can affect our speech. I think many times we speak out of our circumstances. It’s so easy to become overwhelmed with the difficulties of life and to become discontent. It’s so vital for us as believers to stop and remember that the Lord has put those circumstances in our lives for our good and for His glory. Having this mindset can help us to trust Him with these circumstances. I think a good reminder of these things is in James 1. James encourages us to rejoice in the trials of life because of the resulting endurance of our faith it brings about. He says in chapter 1, verse 12, “Blessed is the one who is steadfast under trials,” and in verse 17 that “every good and perfect gift is from above.” We can know that even the trials that we go through and the circumstances that are less than ideal are good for us. God is growing and shaping us to be more like Him through these things, which also results in strengthening our faith. When we realize these things, it helps us not to complain but instead to receive them with a quiet heart. We should honor the Lord in those circumstances the best we can, instead of grumbling and being quick to speak.

James goes on in verses 19 and 20 to encourage us to be quick to hear, slow to speak, and slow to anger. I believe James also understood how easy it is to get caught up in what is going on around us and to start speaking our minds without thinking. I think it’s important to understand here that often, when we start complaining and being quick to speak, we are not listening to what the Lord is trying to teach us through our circumstances. This can lead to our pushing back against God’s sanctifying will for our lives. I want us all to remember that the Lord is good, everything He puts in our lives is good for us, and when we receive it joyfully, it helps us to grow in our endurance and in our faith. 

I think this quote by Charles Spurgeon is a good reminder for us:

“If any other circumstance would have been better for you, divine love would have put you there”. – Charles Spurgeon

The Lord has us where He wants us, to grow us, and it’s so good for us to keep this perspective. Remember that we shouldn’t speak out of our circumstances, but rather allow our circumstances to push us to Christ and cause our trust in the Lord and our Faith to grow.