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Psalm 52 is a reminder that our words matter.
Like a sharpened razor, your tongue devises destruction, working treachery. 3 You love evil instead of good, lying instead of speaking truthfully. Selah. 4 You love any words that destroy, you treacherous tongue!
Psalms 52:2-4 HCSB
When others make decisions or voice opinions that frustrate us, it’s tempting to put them in their place. Sadly, some of our most vicious arguments occur with those we claim to love. In the heat of the moment, we use our tongue to point out their inconsistency, their flaws, and their failures. It’s so easy to slip into the “I’m right and you’re wrong” mentality and branch out from there. If we aren’t diligent, we become exactly what this Psalm describes.
“Murder with “a sharp razor” is as wicked as murder with a meat-axe or a bludgeon. A lie very ingeniously framed and rehearsed in an oily manner, is as great a sin, and in the end will be seen to be as great a folly as the most bungling attempt at deception.”
William S. Plumer
Maybe we don’t think of our deceptive words as being a wicked device used for murder? But this is absolutely true.
“The words of Psalm 52 can teach today in the same way they did in ancient Israel. We all know the damage of words. In a media-saturated world, lying words still cut like a razor. Indeed, we are surrounded by a culture that encourages us to be out only for ourselves and believes that our only protection is the wealth and possessions we amass behind gates that lock out the rest of the world.
Words of advertisers and terrorists reduce our lives and diminish our delight. Abusive words by one we love and trust can do as much damage as a fist or knife. We know just as these ancient ones do that this way leads only to alienation and death. Any sane person would not choose this way to live, but instead grow slowly and surely as a great tree that flourishes in the house of God.”
Beth Tanner