"May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, O Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer." Psalm 19:14

Scripture has much to say about our mouth, lips, tongue and words. Through the instrument of the lips, tongue and mouth we speak words that are righteous or evil. In this day when the truth is so skewed and lies abound, let us see what the word has to say to us.

Proverbs 12:19 tells us,
"Truthful lips will be established forever, But a lying tongue is only for a moment."

Proverbs provides us with wisdom concerning both truthful lips and lying lips as we see in the following verses in Proverbs 10:
"The mouth of the righteous is a fountain of life, But the mouth of the wicked conceals violence." Vs. 11

"Wise men store up knowledge,
But with the mouth of the foolish, ruin is at hand." Vs. 14

"He who conceals hatred has lying lips,
And he who spreads slander is a fool." Vs. 18

"The tongue of the righteous is as choice silver, The heart of the wicked is with little." Vs. 20

"The lips of the righteous feed many,
But fools die for lack of understanding." Vs. 21

"The mouth of the righteous flows with wisdom, But the perverted tongue will be cut out." Vs. 31

"The lips of the righteous bring forth what is acceptable, But the mouth of the wicked, is perverted." Vs. 32

Proverbs 13:3 tells us,
"The one who guards his mouth preserves his life; The one who opens wide his lips comes to ruin."

I have always been grateful for Proverbs 10:19 because it is a warning Scripture and one to be heeded.
"When there are many words, transgression is unavoidable, But he who restrains his lips is wise."

James 3:1-12 tells us of the unruliness of the tongue.
Verses 7-8 say,
"All kinds of animals, birds, reptiles and creatures of the sea are being tamed and have been tamed by man, but no man can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison."
This being so, we must yield to the Holy Spirit who leads and guides and let Him control our lips and words.

James 1:19 says also,
"Therefore, my brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak."

The Psalms tells us of righteous ways the lips are used-- For prayer:
"Hear a just cause, O Lord,
Attend to my cry;
Give ear to my prayer that is not from deceitful lips." Psalm 17:1

For righteousness:
"I have proclaimed the good news of righteousness In the great congregation; Indeed, I do not restrain my lips, O Lord, You Yourself know." Psalm 40:9

For praise:
"O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth will declare Your praise." Psalm 51:15

For singing:
""My lips shall greatly rejoice when I sing to You, And my soul, which You have redeemed." Psalm 71:23

For spiritual fruitfulness as we see in Hebrews 13:15:
"Therefore by Him let is continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name."

As Believers let us daily ask the Lord, as David did, to, "Set a guard, O Lord, over my mouth; Keep watch over the door of my lips." Psalm 141:3

I close with this anonymous poem from "Our Daily Bread":
"A careless word may kindle strife,
A cruel word may wreck a life;
A timely word may lessen stress,
A loving word may heal and bless."

Lord, how grateful we are that we are under the control of the Holy Spirit and we can trust Him to lead in the path of righteousness for Your name sake! We praise and thank You. Amen