“What comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart.”
Matthew 15:18
The Proverbs encourage us to speak in certain ways, and to avoid speaking in other ways. Let’s frame four prayers from the book of Proverbs, asking for God’s help with our words.
Lord, help me to speak with restraint
The heart of the righteous ponders how to answer, but the mouth of the wicked pours out evil things (15:28).
Words pour out of the mouth of the wicked, but the heart of the righteous ponders how to answer. Self-expression is a leading idol in our culture. “I must say what I think. I must say what I feel!” Must you? “A fool gives full vent to his spirit, but a wise man quietly holds it back” (29:11).
Lord, help me to speak with humility
Let another praise you, and not your own mouth; a stranger, and not your own lips (27:2).
Lord, help me to speak with wisdom
To make an apt answer is a joy to a man, and a word in season, how good it is! (15:23). What you say may be right, but if the way you say it is harsh, it will do no good. The right word spoken at the right time in the right way is a thing of great beauty.
Lord, help me to speak with grace
Gracious words are like a honeycomb, sweetness to the soul and health to the body (16:24). Don’t ever fall for the idea that soft, gentle, or gracious means weak. “With patience a ruler may be persuaded, and a soft tongue will break a bone” (25:15).
Try to take this in: A soft tongue, a gentle tongue, a gracious tongue, is stronger than bone! Grace can change a heart of stone. How did God change your heart? Was it not His grace that won you? Was it not His kindness that led you to repentance (Rom. 2:4)?
Lord, help us speak with restraint, humility, wisdom, and grace.
Which of these prayers would be most helpful to you today?
