Psalm 51:16
Rescue me from violent bloodshed, God, my saving God, and my tongue will sing joyfully of your justice.
Sometimes I like to flip to a different translation of the Bible to help understand scripture. When I did that with this verse, my heart twinged a bit. In a differnet version, the second part of this verse reads, "Now my tongue, which was used to destroy, will be used to sing with deep delight of how right and just You are." This version reminds us that it was David's words, not his own hand that caused Uriah's death.
I've never been in a fist fight. Sure, my sister and I got into it as kids, but overall when it comes to physical harm, I've got a pretty clean slate. But man, I know I've caused some hurt with my tongue. I've messed up friendships, hurt feelings, degraded other human beings... All with that tiny muscle that's inside my mouth. This weekend dozens of people died because of an act of physical violence, which is sad and terrible and gutwrenching. Sadly though, some of the comments I've read about those men & women (sons and daughters of God) deserving what they got - also fueled by hate and just as horrible.
Just like our arms don't throw a punch without our brains telling them to, our tongues don't speak hurtful words on their own either. And that's good news. We CAN control what we say, but that choice has to start at our heart, move to our head and then come into reality with our words.
