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God spoke the worlds into existence (see Psalm 33.6). On each of six days of creation, God said things like, “Let there be light,” “Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters,” “Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear,” and so forth (see Genesis 1.3, Genesis 1.6, Genesis 1.9, etc.).

At the end of His creative works, He gave instructions to the humans He had created; these instructions were in the form of words. “And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, 'Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.'” (Genesis 2:16-17). From this beginning of language has come the entirety of the languages and words which we now know and all the lost languages and words that might have ever existed. God has not mandated a language for us to speak, but He made languages possible. As far as the Bible goes, no one language is more “right” than any other. A man can be pleasing to God while speaking any language, or for that matter he can please God without speaking any language!

However, if a man chooses to speak, he will be held accountable for the words that he says (as well as the intent of the heart that precedes the utterance of words). Jesus put it this way: “For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.” (Matthew 12:37). He made this statement in the midst of telling His listeners the importance of speaking things that come from a pure and faithful heart. Once again, when we speak, we are uttering things that can and will be held against us at judgment, or else we are uttering things that can and will be part of the reason for our justification.

Just as a quick lesson from the Bible in how words are used will be helpful here. As you, the reader, consider this list, remain aware of the fact that we have the ability to speak in any of the ways you may see. However, just as surely as we have that ability, we also will held accountable for the way we speak. We have the ability to speak “beautiful words” (Genesis 49.21), “false words” (Exodus 5.9), “good words” (1 Kings 12.7), “right words” (Job 6.25), “devouring words” (Psalm 52.4), “harsh words” (Proverbs 15.1), “pleasant words” (Proverbs 16.24), “lying words” (Isaiah 32.7), “smooth words” (Jeremiah 12.6), “pompous words” (Daniel 7.11), “gracious words” (Luke 4.22), “blasphemous words” (Acts 6.11), “persuasive words” (1 Corinthians 2.4), “flattering words” (1 Thessalonians 2.5), “wholesome words” (1 Timothy 6.3), “sound words” (2 Timothy 1.13), “deceptive words” (2 Peter 2.3), and “malicious words” (3 John 1.10).

This is quite a catalog of possibilities. We have the capability of choosing each and every one of these “ways” in which we use words. Furthermore, if we are an “average” person, we will use somewhere between 10,000,25,000 words every day of our adult life. Multiply that figure by 365 and it becomes obvious that, on the low side, we have over three million chances to sin or not to sin during a year's time - just in the “way” we use our words! No wonder, James counseled that we ought to be “...swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath.” (James 1.19).

Lest we become discouraged by the daunting task that faces us when we choose to speak, we close with a comforting fact from David's pen. He wrote, “The words of the LORD are pure words, Like silver tried in a furnace of earth, Purified seven times.” (Psalm 12.6). If we say what God instructs us to say and say it in the manner He says, all of our words will be pure! We have this ability – it's our choice!

Questions:

1. What is the first biblical quotation of God speaking?

2. In the Garden of Eden, how did Adam and Eve receive their knowledge of what was permitted for them to eat and what was forbidden?

3. How did David describe God's words in our focus text? Just how pure did he say God's words are?

4. Why would we be well served to be swift to hear and slow to speak?

"Point of Reference" from Fred Price

A Broken Spirit And Contrite Heart