Psalm 34:13-14
“Keep your tongue from evil, And your lips from speaking deceit. Depart from evil and do good; Seek peace and pursue it.“
Today’s scriptures are answers to the question that David asks in Psalm 34:12 “Who wants to live a good life?”. The Bible teaches us that sincere obedience to God, seeking His will respecting His commands, and keeping them will result in a blessed life filled with His presence. His presence allows His goodness and mercy to flow into our lives.
This blessed life involves appropriate use of our tongue and lips as well. James in his letter mentions “Tongue is fire and can defile all the members of our body” (James 3:6) and Solomon in Proverbs mentions “Death and life is in the power of the tongue” (Proverbs 18:21). Here David suggests to “Keep your tongue from evil and your lips from speaking deceit“. What evil can our tongue or lips do? How do we keep it from evil?
Our tongue can indulge in lying, flattering, gossiping, slandering, boasting, swearing, Judging, murmuring, cursing, scoffing, and so on. They are evil because it does not represent the likeness of Christ, however, they resemble flesh and the world. We, God’s children, should depart from this evil and do good.
Departing is our choice, when we depart from evil and do our best God showers His grace and enables us to be overcomers. Evil tongue should be replaced with good or else we have a threat of returning to evil. We have to seek peace instead of gossiping, slandering, judging, murmuring, cursing, scoffing, etc. and we have to continue in peace.
It is easier said than done, so we should remember we are not alone in this; our Saviour is with us always encouraging, enabling us to do good, seek peace, and pursue it. Therefore, let’s take a stand against the evil of the tongue and embrace His grace and overcome it, replace it with good, and glorify His holy name always.
Blessed Day Ahead.
