Read Psalm 12

Contrasting the Speech of the Wicked to the Speech of God

Do you ever notice a difference between the way your friends at work or school speak and the way Christians speak? Certainly, the words used should be different. It is never fitting for a Christian’s speech to be littered with four-letter words. But take it a step further, and think about the manner of speech, and not just the vocabulary used.

Perhaps David describes your non-Christian acquaintances in the twelfth Psalm. “They speak idly everyone with his neighbor; with flattering lips and a double heart they speak” (Psalm 12:2). Does that sound like the folks at the office? They chatter on and on without really saying anything, and will say whatever they think someone wants to hear just to get in their good graces. Did you know that Jesus warns against idle talk? He said, “But I say to you that for every idle word men may speak, they will give account of it in the day of judgment” (Matthew 12:36). What we say is important!

David also talks about how boastful the ungodly men in his day spoke. “May the LORD cut off all flattering lips, and the tongue that speaks proud things, who have said, ‘With our tongue we will prevail; our lips are our own; who is lord over us?’” (Psalm 12:3-4). We see in the New Testament that we should not boast in our abilities. “But God forbid that I should boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world” (Galatians 6:14). When all is said and done, we are nothing without God!

Consider the words of the Almighty and how different they are than those of wicked men: “The words of the LORD are pure words, like silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times. You shall keep them, O LORD, You shall preserve them from this generation forever” (Psalm 12:6-7). Man speaks in disingenuous and boastful ways. God, however, speaks in purity and we can be assured that He will fulfill what He has promised.

How does your speech compare? We are called to be like the Father. Jesus said, “Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect” (Matthew 5:48). Paul wrote, “Let your speech always be with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought to answer each one” (Colossians 4:6). Do your communication habits align with Scripture, or with the wicked?