Isaiah writes: ‘The Sovereign Lord has given me a well-instructed tongue, to know the word that sustains the weary. He wakens me morning by morning, wakens my ear to listen like one being instructed.’ It’s never wise to say everything we’re thinking, because sometimes our thoughts can be negative, hurtful, and unhelpful. There’s a time for us to share our thoughts, and a time for us to keep quiet. The more mature we become, the more we’ll realise that sometimes the best thing is to not say anything. We need to ask God for ‘a well-instructed tongue’, just like Isaiah had. Throughout the Bible, we’re reminded of the importance of keeping our speech under control. For example, ‘Those who guard their lips preserve their lives, but those who speak rashly will come to ruin’ (Proverbs 13:3 NIV); ‘Those who guard their mouths and their tongues keep themselves from calamity’ (Proverbs 21:23 NIV), and ‘Those who consider themselves religious and yet do not keep a tight rein on their tongues deceive themselves, and their religion is worthless’ (James 1:26 NIV). There are two occasions in particular when our tongue can get us into trouble: 1) When we’re angry. Emotional outbursts usually result in harmful comments we don’t mean and will regret later. 2) When we’re tired. Exhaustion can make us impatient and less able to keep control over our thoughts and speech. Thoughtless comments can slip out. We should always wait until our judgement is clear and we can think things through before we speak. Paul said, ‘Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone’ (Colossians 4:6 NIV). Salt flavours, preserves, cleanses, and heals. And that’s what our words should do too.

What Now?

Put a tiny bit of salt on your tongue. Then pray that your words would be like salt to others.