Your Daily Slice

Elul 7

Words

“For there is not a word on my tongue, But see, O יהוה, You know it all!” (Ps 139:4 ISR)

It was interesting for me to find that the Hebrew word translated as ‘tongue’ is the word lâshôn (Strong’s H3956), a word that many of us are familiar with in connection with lahon hara, or the ‘evil tongue’.  Though ‘tongue’ is an accurate translation of the word, lâshôn also means speech, or language, which is what is implied in our opening verse.

Millâh (Strong’s H4405) is what has been translated as ‘word’, and that is exactly what it means.  When we look again at this verse, it could read ‘there is not a single, individual word found in my speech, but You, Yahweh, already know (yâda‛, Strong’s H3045) it!’  This is definitely something to meditate on.

Messiah Yeshua gave us a severe warning and admonition concerning what comes out of our mouths:  “And I say to you that for every idle word men speak, they shall give an account of it in the day of judgment. For by your words you shall be declared righteous, and by your words you shall be declared unrighteous.” (Mat 12:36-37, emphasis mine)  This is something that all of us are guilty of, of words spoken in haste, in anger, in sarcasm, etc.  We have all done it.  Be that as it may, most of us ignore the fact that it is by the words that we speak that we will join either the ranks of the righteous, or the unrighteous.  And we should know what that will mean …

James, the brother of our Messiah, hit the nail on the head with his discourse on the evils of the tongue (see Jam 3).  With the one side of our mouth, we bless and praise our Creator, yet out of the other side of our mouth, we curse and belittle our brothers and sisters that are made in the likeness of our Elohim (see Jam 3:9-10).  Brethren, if we are going to call ourselves ‘Torah Observant’, we can no longer engage in this practice; it is wrong, and does not honor our Father.  Remember, according to our opening verse, before the words ever leave our mouths, He is aware of what we are going to say.

I am going to step out here, and go a little further.  Since we have been told that it is out of the ‘overflow of the heart that the mouth speaks’ (Luke 6:45), I would venture to say that much of the ‘smack’ that we talk is a heart problem, and needs to be addressed.  If we sincerely ‘loved our neighbor as ourselves’ (Lev 19:18), and we walked in ‘love for one another’ as commanded by Messiah Yeshua (John 15:12), would we talk the way we do?

 Please, folks, let me assure you that as I write this, I am also addressing myself.  There are those that I have said unkind things about, and I also said harsh words to certain people.  This is the season of teshuvah, of repentance and restoration, and, where it is possible, I must make amends.  Not only do I need to go, and ask for forgiveness (Mat 5:23-24), but I must resolve to put a guard on my mouth (Pro 21:23), and speak only words of life, of encouragement, of edification, and exhortation.  Amein.

“If anyone among you thinks he is religious, and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this one’s religion is worthless.” (Jam 1:26 ISR)

“Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart Be pleasing before You, O יהוה, my rock and my redeemer.” (Ps 19:14 ISR)

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