David wrote, “I will watch my ways and keep my tongue from sin; I will put a muzzle on my mouth as long as the wicked are in my presence.” But when I was silent and still, not even saying anything good, my anguish increased. My heart grew hot within me, and as I meditated, the fire burned; then I spoke with my tongue: “Show me, O Lord, my life’s end and the number of my days; let me know how fleeting is my life. You have made my days a mere handbreadth; the span of my years is as nothing before you. Each mans life is but a breath” (Psalm 39:1-5).
David wanted to speak out against his enemies, but he chooses to keep silent, not even saying anything good. David was not going to retaliate or answer back to these people for the evil they had done to him or said about him. But that didn’t stop him from being upset, his anguish increased and it was like a fire that burned inside him. So David asks the Lord to show him the number of his days and the end of his own life, and how fleeting life really is. David made a wise choice, he chose to keep silent to mankind and allow the Lord to deal with his enemies (cf. Romans 12:19). David knew that only the Lord has the complete and eternal answers to our problems. Not talking to any human can have its advantages, someone has said, “A moment of silence can save you months or years of explaining.”
So many times in our lives we want to lash out with words and actions against people that we think have said or done something to us that we don’t like. But like David, we need to talk to the Lord and seek His wisdom. We need to ask the Lord to remind us how frail and weak we are and how few days our life is. And when we realize how short our life really is, we need to ask ourselves the question, “Do I really want to get involved in a discussion that tear other people down; do I really want those words to be spoken or written down?” Do we really want to be remembered for being caustic, critical, sarcastic, cynical, angry, bitter, upset, faultfinding and sin-sniffing? Is that what we want to be remembered for? We all need to ask the Lord to show us how short life is before we go about pointing fingers at him, her or them.
There is something else we really need to understand here, because it is so dumb what we sometimes do. We are so much like the Hebrew people in Deuteronomy who got themselves into trouble with the Lord by their habitual murmuring. The Hebrew word for murmur is “luwn” pronounced “loon,” and it really is loony, or crazy, to go around habitually murmuring, griping and being critical of others. We need to be very careful about this, because in the book of Hebrews we are told that God framed the world by the Word that He spoke, like a carpenter framing a house, God framed the world. And in so many ways we frame the world that we live in by the words we speak. If we talk to our family or friends in a cynically, negatively or critical way, then we are building our world to be cynical, negative and critical. And you can be assured that this will be transferred to our family and friends.
In the book of Philippians Paul gives us a list of what we should be thinking and talking about, “Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things” (Philippians 4:8).
Often I hear gossip start out, “This is not gossip, this is the truth.” And it may very well be the truth, but does it fit the rest of the criteria that Paul tells us. Is it noble? Does what you are talking about bring about a noteworthy and good cause? Is it right? Does what we say have a right to be said, or talked about? Is it pure? Or is it just something to try to hurt or tear down someone’s reputation? Is it lovely? Does what you are doing help other people? Is it admirable? Will what you say or do make you look like a cynical fool, or does it make you look like an admirable person? Is it excellent or praiseworthy? Is what you are going to say or do going to show that you are living your life in a godly manner that will bring glory and praise to God?
Then David tells us, “Man is a mere phantom as he goes to and fro: He bustles about, but only in vain; he heaps up wealth, not knowing who will get it” (Psalm 39:6). Solomon wrote, “Whoever loves money never has money enough; whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with his income. This too is meaningless” (Ecclesiastes 5:10). Other than pride, greed causes more evil in this world than anything else, and we need to guard our lives against this evil nature that dwells within all of us. Because it doesn’t make any difference how much money or materialistic things we own, we are going to leave them. Jesus said, “What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul? (Matthew 16:26). John wrote, “The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever” (1 John 2:17). Living your life to please God is more important than any material thing on this earth. “Better a poor man whose walk is blameless than a fool whose lips are perverse” (Proverbs 19:1).