Life is full of tests. Have you noticed that? Whether believers or not, we all encounter tests of integrity, strength, endurance, knowledge, and patience. It’s the way things are under the sun.
I am a writer, a singer, a teacher, a counselor—in short, a communicator. My life is an endless chain of conversations (interspersed with brief periods of dog-walking).
It figures that one of the primary and most frequent tests I encounter relates to how, when, and why I use words. I have to ask constantly,
What is the right timing to speak or otherwise communicate in words, and how will I know? A daily prayer is, “Lord, lead me today to speak only when and what you want me to speak, and otherwise, to keep my mouth shut.”
This is my daily challenge. I do not want to displease the Lord who has been so incredibly kind to me. And I don’t want to grieve the people God has called me to love. My words should bring encouragement, hope, humor, wisdom. My words should minister grace to the hearer (Eph. 4:29).
Scripture and experience testify that it is how we use words that makes us capable of positive impact, and it is also in words that we are most prone to damage others and displease God. Wise people across the ages have known this.
I recently re-read the small but powerful book of Malachi, where the prophet declares,
“You have wearied the Lord with your words. “How have we wearied him?” you ask. By saying, “All who do evil are good in the eyes of the Lord, and he is pleased with them” or “Where is the God of justice?” (Mal 2:17, NIV).
Though this is addressed to Israel, I believe it applies in all times to all people who profess faith in the same God. Did you know that we can weary our Lord with words? There are a few ways we do this as described in Scripture.
Our Lord becomes weary when we attribute to him ignorance, injustice, or cruelty. Whether it is the serpent in the garden, the Israelites in the wilderness, or believers suffering misfortune today, God’s children are prone to incorrectly blaming him for things or ascribing wrong motives to him.
If you have raised children, you probably have heard them say at some point, “It’s not fair!” Isn’t it wearying to hear that, when we know we are disciplining them for their own good? Sometimes we’ve withheld something that might cause harm to them, because we know more than they do and love them enough to protect them.
And we get no credit for it! It is wearying to have our motives questioned. Think about how our endlessly merciful God feels when we project this very limited earthly attribution onto him, when he is perfect and holy in every way.
Sigh….
Jesus implies that we can weary the Father with words when we go on and on with religious, formulaic prayers. As if the Lord needs to hear us spell out our needs and submit them in triplicate! In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus teaches us,
And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him. (Matt. 6:7-8).
Jesus seems to be teaching us to keep our prayers simple and faith-filled, because we are assured that the Father already knows what we need. Imagine if your children were to keep begging you to meet their basic needs. Worse, imagine that they did this with lengthy, elaborate speeches designed to impress us into taking care of them. That would be absurd and insulting.
God has little tolerance for the words of the wicked.
In one Psalm, David complains,
See what they spew from their mouths—the words from their lips are sharp as swords, and they think, “Who can hear us?” But you laugh at them, Lord; you scoff at all those nations. (Ps. 59:7-8)
In another he prays, “Lord, confuse the wicked, confound their words” (Ps. 55:9).
The Bible is full of admonitions about the words of the wicked, and how they are used to entice, flatter, deceive, trap, and to destroy. The root of this is pride. The thief comes to steal, kill and destroy (Jn. 10:10), and as with the serpent in his encounter with Eve, he often does this with cunning, lying, accusing words.
May we never be among those who intentionally use our words to injure anyone, even our enemies. Especially our enemies.
Ouch….
Jesus warns his disciples about the danger of uttering empty, idle words. (Matt. 12:36; Eph. 5:6).
“But I tell you that everyone will have to give account on the day of judgment for every empty word they have spoken. For by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned” (Matt. 12:36-37).
Because words are so powerful, we mustn’t dispense them indiscriminately. We must use them wisely and sparingly as good stewards of our speech. There is no place for gossip, crude profanity, or hasty promises we don’t intend to fulfill.
Here is a favorite OT instruction: “Do not be quick with your mouth, do not be hasty in your heart to utter anything before God. God is in heaven and you are on earth, so let your words be few” (Eccl. 5:2).
This one always reminds me of the Woody Allen quip, “God is silent. Now if we could just get man to shut up!”
Woody is sightly off about God. God is sometimes silent, but not always. One things he says is I should let my words be few, because he’s God, and I’m not. Maybe I need to spend more time listening to him, even when he is silent. If I quiet myself, perhaps he will speak in ways I have not expected.
To summarize, we don’t want to weary the Lord with words that attribute injustice, evil, or capricious motives to him. We pray in humility, recognizing that we don’t need a multitude of words to communicate with him. We steer clear of malicious words surrounding us, words that impart evil intentions. And we are careful stewards of the gift of words, not dispensing them with abandon. In all things, and especially in our words, we cultivate the spiritual fruit of self-control.
Here’s a little bonus, a poem about some of the ways that God speaks, without words:
Speak to me through the trees
Through the leaves already fallen
And those yet to fall
Speak to my reflection in the puddles
And by the muck that sticks to my shoes
Speak to me
In the sound of the small creatures
Scurrying away unseen
Speak from the heavens
White blue and gray
In the birdsong
Speak through the solitude
Though I’m not alone
Speak,
I am ready to listen.
I bless your words, my friends, and I bless your silences. Thank you Jesus, we call you Lord over our words.
