He will send from heaven and save me. He will put to shame he who tramples on me. God will send out His steadfast love and His faithfulness!
My soul is in the midst of lions. I lie down amid fiery beasts - the children of man, whose teeth are spears and arrows, whose tongues are sharp swords. (Vs. 3-4)
If anyone does not stumble in what he says, he is a perfect man, able to bridle his whole body....and the tongue is a fire, a world of unrighteousness....For every kind of beast and bird, of reptile and sea creature, can be tamed and has been tamed by mankind, but no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil full of deadly poison. With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse people who are made in the likeness of God. From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers (and sisters) these things ought not to be so. James 2
Ever been torn to shreds by gossip.....or (I know, this is meddling) ever torn another apart? All hands up. It is, sadly, the human condition. When I read these verses, I thought of Lillian Hellman's play, "The Children's Hour." It epitomizes the voracity with which the tongues can devour lives.
Karen and Martha run a school for girls. Martha's aunt, Lily Mortar, helps in the office. Karen is engaged to marry a local doctor, Joe Cardin. Enrolled in the school is Mary Tilford, whose grandmother, Amelia, is a big donor to the private school. Mary is recalcitrant, often getting herself and others into trouble. One day she feigns illness to get out of classes. Dr. Cardin in called in to look at her. Though he declares her to be well, while he is examining her, two other girls listen at the door to see what's wrong with Mary. They overhear a conversation between the doctor and Lily. Lily expresses her concerns that every time Joe comes over to see Karen, Martha becomes ill-tempered and terse.
Mary is sent back to her room. The two girls tell her what they heard Joe and Lily talking about. They had been secretly reading a book about lesbians, so Mary sees a way to ruin everyone. She tells her grandmother the two women are lovers. Amelia then calls all the parents in the school. They pull their children out. All but one. Rosalie, whose mother is out of the country, goes to stay with Mary. As Karen and Martha prepare to sue for slander, Mary coaxes Rosalie into corroborating her story.
Ultimately, though Mary's story is full of inconsistencies, the women lose the trial that would have exonerated them. They are forced to move. Joe, who has taken a job in another state, wants Karen to go with him...and even asks Martha to come along so they can start over. Karen has a deeply rooted fear by now, though. Does Joe believe any of this? She forces him to ask what she knows he wants to: "Well, did you?"
With Joe gone, Martha confronts Karen with a nagging thought: Maybe I did have those feelings for you. Karen brushes the thought off though Martha presses the issue.
"I don't want to talk about this any more tonight," Karen says. "Maybe tomorrow."
Martha leaves the room. Karen hears gunshots. Martha has taken her life.
Very soon afterward, Amelia comes running to the door with great remorse. She has discovered her granddaughter's lie. But it is too late. Three lives are forever ruined.
It matters what we say. It matters to whom we say it. But before that...it matters what we think. So easily we can devour another. We hiss and our fangs appear. We don't need guns or knives. Just our tongues. I am soberly reminded that I am a woman of unclean lips who needs the washing of the Word to keep me from running amok, biting when I should bind up.
Help me, Father. Only you can tame this deadly weapon. May the sword of the Spirit be my "sharp sword" so I clearly understand not only my enemy and my friend, but, first and foremost, my own motives. May I speak only what cuts into the heart for healing and not for hurt, because that is how You, Father, speak to me. For the Word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and spirit, of joints and marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intents of the heart.
May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable to you, my Rock and my Redeemer. Psalm 19
My soul is in the midst of lions. I lie down amid fiery beasts - the children of man, whose teeth are spears and arrows, whose tongues are sharp swords. (Vs. 3-4)
If anyone does not stumble in what he says, he is a perfect man, able to bridle his whole body....and the tongue is a fire, a world of unrighteousness....For every kind of beast and bird, of reptile and sea creature, can be tamed and has been tamed by mankind, but no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil full of deadly poison. With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse people who are made in the likeness of God. From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers (and sisters) these things ought not to be so. James 2
Ever been torn to shreds by gossip.....or (I know, this is meddling) ever torn another apart? All hands up. It is, sadly, the human condition. When I read these verses, I thought of Lillian Hellman's play, "The Children's Hour." It epitomizes the voracity with which the tongues can devour lives.
Karen and Martha run a school for girls. Martha's aunt, Lily Mortar, helps in the office. Karen is engaged to marry a local doctor, Joe Cardin. Enrolled in the school is Mary Tilford, whose grandmother, Amelia, is a big donor to the private school. Mary is recalcitrant, often getting herself and others into trouble. One day she feigns illness to get out of classes. Dr. Cardin in called in to look at her. Though he declares her to be well, while he is examining her, two other girls listen at the door to see what's wrong with Mary. They overhear a conversation between the doctor and Lily. Lily expresses her concerns that every time Joe comes over to see Karen, Martha becomes ill-tempered and terse.
Mary is sent back to her room. The two girls tell her what they heard Joe and Lily talking about. They had been secretly reading a book about lesbians, so Mary sees a way to ruin everyone. She tells her grandmother the two women are lovers. Amelia then calls all the parents in the school. They pull their children out. All but one. Rosalie, whose mother is out of the country, goes to stay with Mary. As Karen and Martha prepare to sue for slander, Mary coaxes Rosalie into corroborating her story.
Ultimately, though Mary's story is full of inconsistencies, the women lose the trial that would have exonerated them. They are forced to move. Joe, who has taken a job in another state, wants Karen to go with him...and even asks Martha to come along so they can start over. Karen has a deeply rooted fear by now, though. Does Joe believe any of this? She forces him to ask what she knows he wants to: "Well, did you?"
With Joe gone, Martha confronts Karen with a nagging thought: Maybe I did have those feelings for you. Karen brushes the thought off though Martha presses the issue.
"I don't want to talk about this any more tonight," Karen says. "Maybe tomorrow."
Martha leaves the room. Karen hears gunshots. Martha has taken her life.
Very soon afterward, Amelia comes running to the door with great remorse. She has discovered her granddaughter's lie. But it is too late. Three lives are forever ruined.
It matters what we say. It matters to whom we say it. But before that...it matters what we think. So easily we can devour another. We hiss and our fangs appear. We don't need guns or knives. Just our tongues. I am soberly reminded that I am a woman of unclean lips who needs the washing of the Word to keep me from running amok, biting when I should bind up.
Help me, Father. Only you can tame this deadly weapon. May the sword of the Spirit be my "sharp sword" so I clearly understand not only my enemy and my friend, but, first and foremost, my own motives. May I speak only what cuts into the heart for healing and not for hurt, because that is how You, Father, speak to me. For the Word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and spirit, of joints and marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intents of the heart.
May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable to you, my Rock and my Redeemer. Psalm 19
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