“Set a watch, O LORD, before my mouth; keep the door of my lips.” Psalms 141:3
Keep the door of my lips, oh! Lord that I might not sin against you. Have you asked the Lord to set a watch over your mouth? King David did. Why did King David pray for the Lord to keep watch over his mouth? Maybe David knew how easy it is to say something that you would regret later. That one thing you said with your mouth that caused a scene. David who was a man of war knew how one can get snared into doing wicked things just by association with wicked man. Look at verse four of Psalms 141, “incline not my heart to any evil thing, to practice wicked works with men that work iniquity; and let me not eat of their dainties.” David desired that the righteous would hit him and reprove him [see Psalms 141:5]. Have you ever wanted the righteous to hit and reprove you? We do not even think about such actions like this let alone to keep the door of our lips from speaking evil.
Just listen to what James the brother of Jesus has to say about the tongue.
“And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity so is the tongue among our members, that it defileth the whole body, and setteth on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire of hell.”
The tongue is in the mouth, and it can defile the whole body and set its course. It may not even be the course you desired, but your lips caused a course direction down a certain path. Oh! Lord! Get me off this path of destruction. The body is supposed to be the temple of the Lord. The apostle Paul exclaims that our bodies are members of Christ. Yet we would defile our body by blessing and cursing. James said, “therewith bless we God, even the Father; and therewith curse we men, which are made after the similitude of God,” [James 3:9]. James also said that the tongue can no man tame; it is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison [see James 3:8]. We bless God and curse man without thinking, and especially when we are angry about something.
“Their throat is an open sepulcher; with their tongues they have used deceit; the poison of asps is under their lips: Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness.” Romans 3:13-14
“They have sharpened their tongues like a serpent; adders’ poison is under their lips. Selah.” Psalms 140:3
Poison of asps is under their tongues. Poison from snakes which cause death, paralysis of the heart. David prayed that He would be preserved from the violent man who would overthrow his walk [see Psalms 140:4]. These are those whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness that would stop you in your tracks and keep you from doing what God has called you to do. These are words of death and not life. We must recognize the tongues of evil and also at the same time keep our own tongue from speaking evil back. O Lord! Set a watch before my mouth and keep my tongue from speaking evil.
“Whoso keepeth his mouth and his tongue keepeth his soul from troubles.” Proverbs 21:23
Those who keep their mouth and lips from speaking evil keeps their soul from troubles. Who does not want to stay out of troubles? Is it any wonder that David asked the Lord to set a watch over his mouth. David had many troubles and God told him He was a man of war, yet David desired to have peace and to be free of troubles. David knew how the mouth can cause trouble if he spoke out of anger or malice. Let us remember what the Acts of the Apostles states in chapter 13, verses 22 to 23. “David the son of Jesse, was a man after God’s own heart and of this man’s seed came the promise unto Israel a Savior, Jesus.” Oh! Praise the Lord that through David came the promise of a Savior. Even though David was a man of war, he was also a man after God’s own heart. David kept the door open with God in communicating through prayer and remembered the Lord’s mercy and forgiveness. Even if you claim to be righteous like Job, listen to what Job had to say.
“If I justify myself, mine own mouth shall condemn me: if I say, I am perfect, it shall also prove me perverse.” Job 9:20
Your own mouth can condemn you and prove that you are perverse. Where do we get our justification from?
“Therefore, being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ:” Romans 5:1
We are justified by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, and not by our own works. It was Jesus “who was delivered for our offences and was raised again for our justification,” [see Romans 4:25]. Let us also learn from the brother of Jesus, James who said, “out of the same mouth proceeded blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not so to be,” [James 3:10]. This should not happen that blessing and cursing come out of the mouth. Look at verse 11, “Doth a fountain sends forth at the same place sweet water and bitter?” The answer is no. We must take our mouth to the Lord and ask God to cleanse it and forgive us for speaking out of order.
Let us listen to what the apostle Paul told the Colossians.
“But now ye also put off all these; anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth.” Colossians 3:8
We are to put off anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, and filthy communication out of our mouth. This is the old man, what we use to be like before we knew Christ. We are to put on the new man who is Christ and project Christ image and characteristics. We ask in faith for the Spirit to do the work in our mind and to change our heart to that of Christ. Lord, help us to put on the love of Christ. This is Christian living, by mortifying the body through self-denial and placing it in God’s hand in the name of Jesus. True Christian living is the humility of Christ living through us every day and asking God to set a watch over our mouth.