Lord, Set a Watch Before My Mouth

Reflection

I can't tell you the number of days, looking back, when I had wished I prayed this psalm. Growing up, I was a big yapper. I always had something to say, and during my teenage years, I was not very good at letting people get away with something without telling them exactly what I thought about it. If something was on my mind, there was a good chance it was going to come out of my mouth.

Our words are another part of ourselves that we can place into God's hands.

Now that I am older, I think about those words a little differently. We live in a time when people often feel entitled to say whatever comes into their minds, whether it is spoken out loud, written down, typed into a comment, or sent in a message. Sometimes I wonder if living in a digital age has made controlling our words even more difficult because we have so many ways to speak without ever opening our mouths.

That has made me think about David's prayer in a slightly different way. I am not only concerned with what can be heard by someone's ears, but also with what can be "heard" by someone's eyes. A sharp comment, an angry message, a sarcastic response, or words typed in frustration can hurt just as surely as words spoken aloud. We may not have physically opened our mouths, but our hearts have still found a way to speak.

David understood that his mouth needed watching. He did not simply ask God to help him say nicer things. He asked the Lord to set a watch before his mouth and keep the door of his lips. There was an awareness that his words needed to be guarded because what comes out of us is connected to what is taking place within us.

Jesus also spoke about this connection between our hearts and our words. Our speech can reveal things about us that we might rather keep hidden. Pride, anger, bitterness, envy, impatience, and resentment can all find their way to the surface through our words, sometimes before we even realize what is happening inside of us.

That is why I don't want to think about controlling my speech merely as a way of appearing to be a nice person. I want my words to reflect Christ. There will be times when we need to speak. There is a time to encourage, correct, defend what is right, warn, teach, and even confront something that needs to be addressed. The question is not simply whether we should speak, but how we speak and what is motivating the words coming out of us.

The Holy Spirit's Guidance

This is where the Holy Spirit's work in us becomes so important. Self-control is not something we have to manufacture entirely on our own. When we belong to Christ, we have His Spirit working in us, teaching us to respond differently than our flesh naturally wants to respond. Sometimes that means stopping before we answer, putting the phone down before we send the message, or deciding that having the last word is not worth the damage it may cause.

David's prayer gives us permission to bring this weakness directly to God. We don't have to pretend that our speech is always under control. We can acknowledge that our mouths, our fingers, our thoughts, and our reactions all need His help. Just as David asked the Lord to set a watch before his mouth, we can ask Him to guard every form our communication takes.

I think there is something else worth noticing in this prayer. David was not asking God to silence him completely. He desired to praise God and worship Him, but he also understood the duality of his own mouth. The same mouth that could praise the Lord could also say something that should never have been said. That is a reminder to me that even something good can become harmful when it is not surrendered to God.

Communicating Like Christ

Maybe this is an area where you have struggled too. Perhaps you are quick to respond when someone hurts you, or maybe you have a difficult time letting something go when you know you have been misunderstood. Perhaps your struggle is not with spoken words at all, but with what you type when emotions are running high. Whatever form it takes, we can bring it to the Lord rather than assuming we have to overcome it by our own strength.

The goal is not simply to become better at keeping our mouths shut. The goal is to become more like Christ in the way we communicate. Sometimes Christlike speech means speaking when we would rather remain silent, and sometimes it means remaining silent when everything in us wants to respond. Either way, our words are another part of ourselves that we can place into God's hands.

Don't just guard your lips—
Surrender your words to Christ.

Before You Go

We live in a world where speaking our minds is often treated as a right that should never be restrained. If we think it, we say it. If we feel it, we post it. If someone says something we don't like, we respond. Sometimes we don't even give ourselves enough time to consider whether the words coming to our minds need to make it any farther than our thoughts.

But as believers, we have something greater to consider than simply having the freedom to say whatever we want. We belong to Christ. That means even our words are part of the life we have surrendered to Him. Our mouths are not separate from our faith, and neither are our keyboards, phones, messages, or comments.

I am thankful that God knows our weaknesses better than we do. He knows the words we wish we could take back, the responses we should have left unsaid, and the times our emotions spoke louder than wisdom. He also knows when we are genuinely trying to change and become more like Christ. When we fail, we don't have to run from Him in shame. We can come back, confess it, receive His grace, and ask Him to help us do differently the next time.

Pausing Before We Speak

Psalm 141:3 is a prayer I think many of us could pray regularly. Not because we will suddenly become perfect with our words, but because we recognize that we need the Lord's help. David understood that his mouth needed a watch, and we can admit that we need one too.

So before you speak today, pause for a moment. Before you send that message, leave that comment, or answer someone who has irritated you, ask the Lord to help you consider what is about to come out of you. We don't have to win every argument, correct every person, or make sure everyone knows exactly what we think.

Our words matter because we matter to God, and He is still working in us. May the Lord help us not only control our tongues, but surrender them to Him.