Words That Fit the Sky

The average person speaks thousands of words a day, and most of them are forgettable. Psalm 19 suggests they should not be. In verse 14 David asks that the words of his mouth might be pleasing in God's sight, and he asks it right after describing a sky that declares God's glory without pause. The implication is that our speech is meant to join that chorus.

That is a higher bar than not lying or not cursing. It asks whether what we say fits into a creation that is praising God. Gossip does not fit. Neither does the small cruelty that passes for humor, the exaggeration that makes a story better, or the silence that lets a lie stand. James 3:9-10 makes the same point when it observes that with the same tongue we praise God and curse people made in his likeness, and that this should not be.

The lesson for this week is practical. Before you speak, especially in the moments when you are irritated or want to impress, ask whether the sentence would be pleasing in his sight. Not merely acceptable. Pleasing. That single question will delete a surprising number of sentences and improve the rest.

Then, because David also mentions the meditation of the heart, work upstream. Speech comes from somewhere. Fill the heart with the honey of verse 10 and the mouth will follow.