I lie down among lions that greedily devour human prey; their teeth are spears and arrows, their tongues sharp swords. Psalm 57: 4, NRSV.
Dear Lord, it is bad enough when we are trampled upon, oppressed, and fought against; but when we are torn apart by teeth, and pierced asunder by the tongue, it can seem unbearable; so at this hour Lord, teach us how to survive. We ask this in the name of Jesus; Amen.
Almost all of us, have heard the saying, “Stick and stone may break my bones; but words can never hurt me!” Some of us may have even repeated these words, while the tears from the damage that the words had done, were rolling down our cheeks! Deep down, we know this is not true. I grew up repeating this as a child, not even stopping to think what it really meant! Just repeating, like so many of us do. Today let us stop, and listen, and by God’s grace, try to learn what effect our words are having on one another.
I wonder if we would be better off, if we had to pay to speak. I listen to people saying, this or that, “does not come cheap;” and then they share, very sparingly, whatever it is they are talking about. They use it, or give it, sparingly, because it costs a lot! Do we know just how expensive words are? Words created the world we live in “And God said, let there be…,” and there was! Words can cause the cessation of life, “Now when Ananias heard these words, he fell down and died” (Acts 5: 5). Words can beautify our lives, “A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in a setting of silver” (Proverbs 25: 11). Words can empower us, “Then the woman left her water jar and went back to the city. She said to the people, “Come and see a man who told me everything I have ever done…” (John 4: 28, 29a)! “Words do not come cheap!” Use them wisely, and kindly!
The psalm we looked at yesterday, was spoken by David when the Philistines captured him in Gath. The psalm for today, was spoken by him, when he fled from Saul. They are psalms of anguish! They are psalms that speak of the need for God’s protection, and consolation. In many instances they are our words in times of pain and peril!
Words do as much, and in some cases, more damage than sticks and stones. The bruises caused by sticks and stones, we either survive them, sometimes we suffer the after-effects of them, or they kill us. But the damage caused by words, can produce bruises that last a lifetime; that cause us to become as living deads, barely surviving; never amounting to much! I imagine David must have heard a lot of painful words spoken against him (many of them not true), as he fled (Psalm 31: 18, 20). It is possible that many of these words were spoken by people he thought were his friends! Those words must have hurt the most!
Take heart my friends; you are not alone! Jesus also had hurtful words, that were like spears, and arrows, and swords, spoken to Him as He walked among human beings, “Then they said to [H]im, “Where is [Y]our Father? … We are not illegitimate children; we have one father, God [H]imself” (John 8: 19, 41b). Even as He hung dying for our sins, they gnawed upon Him with their teeth, “Those who passed by, derided [H]im…” (Mark 15: 29).
We do not need to deny, that the unkind words of others do, indeed, hurt us. The next time these poisonous darts are hurled at us, let us stand behind our Savior. He will shield us from the deadly effects of those words! May we also remember to speak unto others, the way we would like them to speak to us!