Think Before You Speak

When I read this psalm, the most obvious verses that hit me was the first and the second verses.  My son is outspoken.  I have always encouraged him to speak his mind, but as he has gotten older, it is like his brain and his mouth sometimes disconnects.  He gets angry and talks back to people.  He has an opinion about everything.  He has yet to learn discretion.  To him, it is important to get it out, instead of hold it in.   The Psalmist has learned what Timm has not,  to guard your voice.  Sometimes you do have let it out.  But using the right words, the right attitude and the appropriate timeliness is smart.  That means you need to think before you speak.

Psalm 39
  ¹I said, "I will guard my ways
         That I may not sin with my tongue;
         I will guard my mouth as with a muzzle
         While the wicked are in my presence."
    ²I was mute and silent,
         I refrained even from good,
         And my sorrow grew worse.
    ³My heart was hot within me,
         While I was musing the fire burned;
         Then I spoke with my tongue:
    ⁴"LORD, make me to know my end
         And what is the extent of my days;
         Let me know how transient I am.
    ⁵"Behold, You have made my days as handbreadths,
         And my lifetime as nothing in Your sight;
         Surely every man at his best is a mere breath. Selah.
    ⁶"Surely every man walks about as a phantom;
         Surely they make an uproar for nothing;
         He amasses riches and does not know who will gather them.
    ⁷"And now, Lord, for what do I wait?
         My hope is in You.
    ⁸"Deliver me from all my transgressions;
         Make me not the reproach of the foolish.
    ⁹"I have become mute, I do not open my mouth,
         Because it is You who have done it.
    ¹⁰"Remove Your plague from me;
         Because of the opposition of Your hand I am perishing.
    ¹¹"With reproofs You chasten a man for iniquity;
         You consume as a moth what is precious to him;
         Surely every man is a mere breath. Selah.
    ¹²"Hear my prayer, O LORD, and give ear to my cry;
         Do not be silent at my tears;
         For I am a stranger with You,
         A sojourner like all my fathers.
    ¹³"Turn Your gaze away from me, that I may smile again
         Before I depart and am no more."