Fear No Fear

(All scripture from the World English Bible, ebible.org, all rights reserved)

“David said to Joab and to all the people who were with him, “Tear your clothes, and clothe yourselves with sackcloth, and mourn in front of Abner.” King David followed the bier. They buried Abner in Hebron; and the king lifted up his voice and wept at Abner’s grave; and all the people wept. The king lamented for Abner, and said, “Should Abner die as a fool dies? Your hands weren’t bound, and your feet weren’t put into fetters. As a man falls before the children of iniquity, so you fell.” All the people wept again over him. All the people came to urge David to eat bread while it was yet day; but David swore, saying, “God do so to me, and more also, if I taste bread or anything else, until the sun goes down.” All the people took notice of it, and it pleased them, as whatever the king did pleased all the people. So all the people and all Israel understood that day that it was not of the king to kill Abner the son of Ner. The king said to his servants, “Don’t you know that a prince and a great man has fallen today in Israel? I am weak today, though anointed king. These men, the sons of Zeruiah are too hard for me. May Yahweh reward the evildoer according to his wickedness.””
(2 Samuel 3:31-39)

“Set a watch, Yahweh, before my mouth.
    Keep the door of my lips.
Don’t incline my heart to any evil thing,
    to practice deeds of wickedness with men who work iniquity.
    Don’t let me eat of their delicacies.
Let the righteous strike me, it is kindness;
    let him reprove me, it is like oil on the head;
    don’t let my head refuse it;
    Yet my prayer is always against evil deeds.
Their judges are thrown down by the sides of the rock.
    They will hear my words, for they are well spoken.”
(Psalm 141:3-6)

When Saul died, David mourned. He wept and honoured both Saul and the men who had claimed his body from the Philistines and buried him properly. David was not two-faced. David had the right to be angry. He had been hounded in his innocence. But he did not speak ill of the Lord’s anointed. Later, David didn’t speak ill of those who set themselves against him. He was never an enemy of Saul, Saul’s house, or those who served them. David was content to be who God told him to be and rule over what God told him to rule over. His satisfaction and joy was in the Lord and what the Lord provided. He left judgment, revenge, and mercy up to the Lord.

It is hard to follow this example. And in truth, David didn’t follow his own example perfectly. It is impossible to bridle the tongue. Without the help of the Lord it never happens. The Psalmist doesn’t pray for control, the Psalmist prays for a GUARD. He uses the imagery of a door because doors constantly open and close (as the sage Rashi points out). We need a doorman to help regulate traffic. And we need one more reliable than us. Yes, we could still force our way past the doorman. But if we’re wise we’ll listen to Him so that our speech and our reputation will remain blameless. We’ll be known as someone who builds up, not someone who tears down.

Summary

Jesus said, “By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:35). We don’t get that reputation with gossip. We don’t get it by talking trash. We don’t get it by speaking about others in a way that aggrandizes ourselves. We get that reputation by being known as people who have a kind word. An encouraging word. Truthful speech, but gentle. We need to lean into Holy Spirit and really listen to HOW He says for us to speak. It is often not WHAT we are saying, but how we are saying it. We need to trust the Lord for more than the words to say. We need to trust Him for instruction on the delivery of those words. The tongue is attuned to the flesh, to our broken human thinking. What we need to do is to learn to listen to our spirit, and to speak out of the truth, gentleness, and kindness of His Spirit – and the Fruit that He gives us to grow in our hearts. May we ALL pray for a guard on our tongue – and may we all listen and obey that guard’s correction.