Slow to Speak - All The LORD is near Daily Devotionals for 2024

In the multitude of words sin is not lacking, but he who restrains his lips is wise.
Proverbs 10:19

Slow to Speak
There is sin in much speaking and there is wisdom in restraint of words. The English satirist and poet, Matthew Arnold, once wrote, "They never taste who always drink, They always talk who never think."

The Bible pointedly admonishes against talkativeness and idle speaking. The Lord Jesus warned "that for every idle word men may speak, they will give account of it in the day of judgment" (Mt. 12:36). Indeed, the preacher and wise man of the Old Testament wrote, "Whoever guards his mouth and tongue keeps his soul from troubles" (Prov. 21:23). We are the masters of our unspoken words and the slaves of words that should have been left unsaid. May we heed these warnings!

James thought the issue of the tongue important enough that he wrote an entire chapter on the subject. The "perfect man" is the one who is able to control the "little member" (Jas. 3:2, 5). James exhorted the believers to be "slow to speak" (Jas. 1:19). It should be stated that James begins his discussion on the tongue when speaking about the teachers in the assembly—they have the stricter judgment (Jas. 3:10)!

James himself was a living example of his own teaching in that he was the last to speak at the Council of Jerusalem (Acts 15:13); so it is important to control our tongues when in the assembly. We should never forget that we are in God's house. As Solomon wrote, "Walk prudently when you go to the house of God; and draw near to hear Do not be rash with your mouth, and let not your heart utter anything hastily before God. For God is in heaven, and you on earth; therefore let your words be few" (Eccl. 5:1-2). We ought to speak only as the "oracles of God," a solemn responsibility indeed (1 Pet. 4:10).

Brian Reynolds