Lord, Transform My Tongue!

“The Lord GOD has given me

the tongue of those who are taught,

that I may know how to sustain with a word

him who is weary.

Morning by morning he awakens;

he awakens my ear

to hear as those who are taught.” [1]

Peter had a tongue that once spoke foolishly as he cursed and denied Jesus. Yet, that same tongue when it had been tamed and empowered by the Holy Spirit, was divinely employed at Pentecost until it became God’s agent used to bring three thousand souls to their knees and to faith in the Risen Lord of Glory.

Paul had a vitriolic tongue, malicious and murderous, a vile tongue that spoke against Christ and commented with pleasure, no doubt, upon the death of Stephen. Nevertheless, tamed by the Holy Spirit that once hate-motivated tongue spoke in such a way that Felix trembled. The tongue of the once vitriolic Rabbi of Rage would become the sweet voice of reason that would send the Roman eagle screaming from its nest to race across leaden skies clearing the way for the knowledge of God’s love.

Long after the earliest days of the advent of the Faith of Christ the Lord, God was accomplishing great things with transformed tongues. We learn from history that John Knox had a tongue that was once out of God’s keeping, but God so transformed that tongue and empowered it in prayer ensuring that the tongue of John Knox would become more alarming to a wicked queen than the bayonets of ten thousand men.

Early in life, Mel Trotter had a tongue that was foul, filthy, wicked, and wild. His tongue spewed out vile epithets. Yet, this same tongue, losing half its vocabulary when he was converted to Christ, became an instrument of holy fire for God’s glory.

And not only were the tongues of servants of the Risen Lord of Glory transformed, but we witness the power of the tongue for good when the tongues of statesmen spoke wisely. Surely, God was at work employing the tongues of great national spokesmen for good. For instance, we know how the tongue of Abraham Lincoln spoke for three minutes at Gettysburg with such logical and emotional power that not a single cheer arose from the massive audience. The words the President spoke that day, like the clarion call of a silver bell, will ring in the hearts of men to the end of time. His tongue that day laid the foundation for the healing of a nation deeply wounded by civil war. Would that statesmen in this day possessed the same ability and commitment for healing the nation instead of advancing their own distorted agendas.

The tongue of Winston Churchill inspired patriotism, courage, and fortitude in all the allied nations of the world in the darkest days of World War II. His speeches, broadcast via radio, rallied a battered nation to unite in opposition to the tyranny that then threatened to extinguish the lamp of liberty for millennia to come.

Tragically, the tongue of many of the saints of God inflict massive wounds that are almost impossible to heal. We do so thoughtlessly, imagining that we have the right to wound others because we are confident that we are right. We find wisdom in the sayings of the wise, and it is not surprising that these proverbs address the tongue as they do so many other facets of life. As an example, consider the following statements that speak of the impact of our words, whether for good or whether for evil.

“What the righteous say is like the best silver,

but what the wicked think is of little value.”

[PROVERBS 10:20 NET BIBLE 2nd]

“There is one whose rash words are like sword thrusts,

but the tongue of the wise brings healing.”

[PROVERBS 12:18]

“The tongue of the wise commends knowledge,

but the mouths of fools pour out folly”

“A gentle tongue is a tree of life,

but perverseness in it breaks the spirit.”

[PROVERBS 15:2, 4]

“[The excellent wife] opens her mouth with wisdom,

and the teaching of kindness is on her tongue.”

[PROVERBS 31:26]

Mark these verses in your Bible; memorise these verses as they will equip you with guidance to direct what you say by weighing how your words can build or destroy.

Our tongue, the words we speak and even the tone of our speech, has an impact far out of proportion to mere words. We learn the languages we speak, and we communicate the thoughts and the ideas that grow in our mind. What we say will either bless those who hear us, or our words will crush those who are addressed. The impact of our words will either build others and honour the Lord Whom we serve, or our words will dishonour Him. It all depends on who controls our tongue.