Thursday 2nd July - The Words

DAILY BYTE

“Even before a word is on my tongue, O LORD, you know it completely” (NRSV).

I have a dear friend who is a very thoughtful kind of person, and when he listens to you in a conversation, he spends a lot of time pondering what he will say next before actually speaking. It can take minutes, seeming hours, when it’s his turn to talk, as he sits there in silence, choosing just the right vocabulary.

It’s excruciating sometimes. You would give anything to know what on earth he’s thinking, and yet, it is somewhat comforting to know that God knows – that God is living and breathing and discerning in those thoughts even before a word is on his tongue.

Have you ever sat across a table or a desk from someone, waiting for them to speak? Perhaps, they were pondering a decision that could seriously affect your life. Perhaps you were the one preparing to speak, trying to decide how to say exactly the right thing.

It is somehow comforting to know that even when the thoughts in our heads are confused, or angry, or just plain silent, God knows them all.

And yet, it also makes speaking a weighty task! When my brother and I got into arguments, as children, my mother would tell me to say, “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words can never hurt me.”

Now, very rarely do I say this, but my mother was wrong. Words can be extremely hurtful, can they not? And often, we spend quite a bit of time pondering just the right word that will purposefully hurt the most, packing the biggest “zing.”

We have been discussing this week the meaning of recognizing God’s presence in every moment of our lives - including in every word that pours from our often jabbering mouths. As we think about the time we spend planning our verbal communication, as well as the time we spend not thinking at all and merely spewing our own thoughts without listening to anyone around us, we hear the psalmist speak: “How weighty to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them! I try to count them – they are more than the sand; I come to the end – I am still with you” (NRSV).

Our thoughts and words may be many – our minds, hearts, and days may feel as though they are consumed by them, but God’s thoughts and words are far weightier, wiser, and more loving than ours. How amazing it is that through all of our confused babbling during the day and even in our dreams, God says: I am still with you – even when you say the wrong thing, even when you hurt others with your words, actions, or inactions. God says, I am still with you, even when you yell hateful, hurting words at me. The weighty thought of God’s heart and the Word God speaks is a word of Love and a promise to be with us in every mumbling, fumbling conversation of our lives with God and with others. How might that thought transform the way you think and speak today?

FOCUS READING

Psalm 139:4 (NIV)

Before a word is on my tongue you know it completely, O LORD.

IF YOU ARE FEELING BRAVE…

Pray to God before each conversation you engage in today, asking God what His thoughts are about what you have to say. Listen carefully and see how this might change the way you live.