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“Whoso keepeth his mouth and his tongue keepeth his soul from troubles” (Proverbs 21:23).
“The tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity…it defileth the whole body” (James 3:6).
We all know how much trouble can be caused by what we say. A careless word can cause hard feelings in others, and result in difficulties that may be very hard to straighten out. A harsh or insulting word can cause a fight, or perhaps an exchange of strong words that puts people at a distance from one another for many years.
Naturally speaking, nothing can keep the tongue from doing this, and each one of us knows how hard it is to control what we say. If we are upset or provoked, it is hard not to say something, or perhaps to say the right thing instead of the wrong thing. Yet here in Proverbs we are told that we are to keep our mouth and our tongue. How can we do that?
We can keep our tongue only when we walk with the Lord, and when we depend on Him for help. He will help us keep our tongue under His control, so that we do not dishonor Him in our talk.
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