“Deliver my soul, O Lord, from lying lips, and from a deceitful tongue.” —Psalm 120:2
The tongue is a weapon that can deliver painful blows, and many are it‘s victims. Christians are not exempt from its abuse, and worse, sometimes the attacks come even from those who profess to be fellow believers, compounding the suffering. David expressed that kind of pain when he cried, “mine own familiar friend, in whom I trusted…hath lifted up his heel against me [Ps. 41:9].” Heel or tongue, it hurts to be wounded and doubly so when the blows are delivered by one who has been a friend or by another Christian.
The tongue is a weapon that can deliver painful blows, and many are it‘s victims. Christians are not exempt from its abuse, and worse, sometimes the attacks come even from those who profess to be fellow believers, compounding the suffering. David expressed that kind of pain when he cried, “mine own familiar friend, in whom I trusted…hath lifted up his heel against me [Ps. 41:9].” Heel or tongue, it hurts to be wounded and doubly so when the blows are delivered by one who has been a friend or by another Christian.
The issue at stake is, really, how we react when we are the victims of slander. The temptation is at once to self defense if not retaliation, in either case adding fuel to the fire. Certainly clearing one’s name seems a legitimate course of action, but it is often not easy to do.
David declares, “My soul hath long dwelt with him that hateth peace. I am for peace: but when I speak, they are for war (v. 6-7)”, suggesting that he had probably attempted to clear the issue with the offender—certainly the appropriate course of action in any issue, especially between fellow believers. In a passage well known, but too little applied, the Savior commands, “Moreover if thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone… [Mt. 18:15].” Sadly, this, does not always succeed in resolving a matter, as the following verses indicate, and the Lord enlarges the procedure, indicating that every reasonable effort should be made to clear the issue, restore fellowship and endeavor to “keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.”
Sometimes our best efforts fail as seems to have been David’s case here, and though we are “for peace,” “they are for war.” What then for the committed believer? Do you recall the Holy Spirit’s instruction through the church at Corinth? A conflict had risen there, whether of “tongue” or “heel,” and it would appear there were lawsuits initiated by brother against brother (cf. I Cor. 6:6) and the apostle’s sharp reproof is, “Now therefore there is utterly a fault among you, because ye go to law one with another. Why do ye not rather take wrong? why do ye not rather suffer yourselves to be defrauded [I Cor. 6:7]?”
David, unable to make peace with his slanderers “cried unto the Lord and [the Lord] heard him.” He simply left his case with the Supreme Court of heaven. The problem did not vanish, but the burden was transferred to the One who could—and would— ultimately resolve it. Subsequently his wise son and successor, informed by the Holy Spirit, counseled, “Say not thou, I will recompense evil; but wait on the Lord and He shall save thee [Prov. 20:22].” This wisdom of Solomon is amplified through the apostle James, who is worth hearing again:
“Even so the tongue is a little member, and boasteth great things. Behold, how great a matter a little fire kindleth! And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity: so is the tongue among our members, that it defileth the whole body, and setteth on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire of hell…Who is a wise man and endued with knowledge among you? let him show out of a good conversation his works with meekness of wisdom…the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be intreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy. And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace of them that make peace.” (See James 3:5-18)
There is, of course, a supreme example. The One who suffered the worst slander and least deserved it cried from the cross, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” And, the apostle Peter draws upon this as he instructs us,
“… if, when ye do well, and suffer for it, ye take it patiently, this is acceptable with God. For even hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps: Who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth: Who, when he was reviled, reviled not again; when he suffered, he threatened not; but committed himself to Him that judgeth righteously [II Pet. 2: 20-23].”
May God give us the grace and wisdom to do likewise.
He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked.
—I John 2:6
For growth in grace,
"Pastor" Frasier
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