I said, I will guard my ways that I may not sin with my tongue.
– Psalm 39:1
What a good verse, a simple, powerful verse, especially to meditate on at the beginning of the day and to remember all throughout a day, and then to look back at the end of a day and evaluate, have I guarded my ways and not sinned with my tongue or just say at the start of a day, God held me to guard my ways today and not sin with my tongue.
Psalm 39:1 Acknowledges the Impact of the Tongue
I think about James 3. The tongue is a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole person. It sets the course of his life on fire with the tongue. We praise our Lord and Father and with it we curse men who’ve been made and God’s likeness outta the same mouth, come praise and cursing my brothers.
This should not be but a warning that our words can be used for such good to bring such glory to God, and at the same time, our words can so quickly be used for such evil, and I would encourage us as we meditate on this picture of sinning with our tongues, not even to limit that to what we speak, but also what we write in a day where we post things on social media or we write emails or send text messages in so many ways, we are using so many words.
Just think about all the words you will use today, I will use today, or if you’re listening to this end of a day, to think back to all the words we used. It is good to pray. It is good to say. Psalm 39:1. I said, I will guard my ways that I may not sin with my tongue.
Psalm 39:1 Leads Us to the Importance of Self Control
God, we pray you would help us to do this. Please help us to guard our ways that we might not sin with our tongues. God, we pray that every word we speak and right today would be pleasing to you, honoring, glorifying to you and edifying good for others. God, help us to think before we speak, to think. Psalm 39:1 specifically before we speak, guard our words, we pray and help us to speak words of life.
God, even I think about the tendency I have, we have to talk about and send so many messages about things that don’t ultimately matter. God help us to speak, words that matter. Help us to look for opportunities to build others up with our words all day long and to point people to you. God, we pray that you would help us to speak timely words of encouragement, words that flow from your Word.
God, we pray that you’d help us to speak the gospel. What words could we say today that might bring people to eternal relationship with you? God, we pray that you to help us to glorify you with our tongue by pointing people to you with our words.
Praying for the Kreda People
God, we pray for unreached people like the Kreda in Chad, 154,000 in this Muslim people group, no known believers among them. Lord, we pray that someone would speak the gospel to them, cause the gospel to go to the Kreda people of Chad, we pray, use our lives however you will, however you want to lead us for the spread of your word, right where we live and far from where we live. God, help us in light of Psalm 39:1, to guard our ways that we may not sin with our tongue and that we might speak text post words all day long that bring great glory to you. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.
David Platt serves as a pastor in metro Washington, D.C. He is the founder of Radical.
David received his Ph.D. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and is the author of Don’t Hold Back, Radical, Follow Me, Counter Culture, Something Needs to Change, Before You Vote, as well as the multiple volumes of the Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary series.
Along with his wife and children, he lives in the Washington, D.C. metro area.
