Psalm 141:3

Psalm 141:3

Watch what you say

Well, we’ve never met this side of David have we? I’ve always thought of him as a “listener”, a man who was slow to speak, who weighed up his words before pronouncing an opinion. But maybe that was not the case, maybe David sometimes spoke rashly and later regretted it. We can all fall into that trap!

The most likely scenario behind this verse is that the great king was concerned that his lips should not speak evil. This was a man who understood that the tongue speaks what is in the heart and there must be no doubt that David had good reason to think ill of his adversaries. In fact, there were some whom he hated, as we saw in Psalm 140. Maybe therefore, this was a heartfelt plea from the King, that when he was in company, the Lord would help him to keep his real opinions to himself and to not give vent to the anger, frustration and vengeful thoughts that surfaced in private.

We all have thoughts that churn away in our minds but are best not expressed! We all have to learn to “bite our tongues” and to keep our own judgement. Sadly, not everyone follows best practice and there are those who constantly say what they think without considering the consequences. There are others we will know, who love a bit of gossip and who cannot keep quiet when information is passed on to them. They seem to get some kind of a kick from being the first one to pass on the news, often without checking its accuracy!  This plea of David’s then is a plea for all of us, “Set a guard over my mouth, Lord; keep watch over the door of my lips.” 

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