I have thought often on the impact and importance of words. God spoke the world into existence. The Word died and rose again to buy us back. We are image bearers. Words matter.
Our last Bible study was in James so this immediately came to mind:
James 3:10
“Blessing and cursing come out of the same mouth. My brothers and sisters, these things should not be this way.” CSB
A good portion of James 3 is about controlling the tongue. Great passage to reflect upon.
Of course, I am guilty of getting angry and not thinking before I speak. I think it is a common sin and affliction of most believers. What is less common is to confess and ask forgiveness and then pray for the person. I have done that quite a few times but never enough, never as default behavior as it should be.
“It is of the Lord’s mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning, great is thy faithfulness.” (Lamentations 3:22-23)
From The Gospel Coalition (emails sent daily on the day’s Scripture readings):
~ The drama of Nehemiah 4 abounds with lessons and illustrations of various truths. But we must not forget that what to us is a dramatic narrative was to those experiencing it days of brutally hard work, high tension, genuine fear, insecurity, rising faith, dirt and grime. Nevertheless, some lessons transcend the ages:
(1) Among the hardest things to endure is derisory contempt. That is what Nehemiah and the Jews faced from Sanballat, Tobiah, and the rest (Neh. 4:1–3). The Judeo-Christian heritage of Western nations was until recent decades so strong that many Christians were shielded from such scorn. No more. We had better get used to what our brothers and sisters in Christ in other lands and centuries handle better than we.
(2) Although God sometimes works through spectacular and supernatural means, he commonly works through ordinary people who take responsibility for themselves and seek to act faithfully even in difficult circumstances. So the Jews “prayed to [their] God and posted a guard day and night” (Neh. 4:9). They armed themselves and divided their number between fighters and builders, but were also exhorted to, “Remember the Lord, who is great and awesome, and fight for . . . your homes” (Neh. 4:14). Jews living near the enemy heard of the plots to demolish the building project and reported it to Nehemiah, who took appropriate action—but God gets the credit for frustrating the plot (Neh. 4:15).
(3) Practical implications flow from this outlook. (a) It presupposes a God-centered outlook that avoids naturalism. If God is God, if he has graciously made himself known in the great moments of redemptive history and in visions and words faithfully transmitted by prophets he has raised up, why should we not also think of this God as operating in the so-called “natural” course of events? Otherwise we have retreated to some myopic vision in which God works only in the spectacular and the miraculous, but otherwise is absent or asleep or uncaring. The God described in the Bible is never so small or distant. (b) That is why God can be trusted. Nehemiah is not resorting to mere psychological puffery, nor to shameless religious rhetoric. His faith is properly grounded in the God who is always active and who is working out his redemptive-historical purposes in the ending of the exile and the rebuilding of Jerusalem—just as today our faith is properly grounded in the God who is always active and who is working out his redemptive-historical purposes in the calling and transformation of the elect and the building and purifying of his church. ~
~ Palisades, Eaton fires held in check; winds not as fierce as expected: Containment of the Palisades fire inched higher to 17% as of Tuesday morning, but gusty winds could challenge fire crews. ~
The worst may be over. But the worst was horrible enough.
<i>The Blessing<i/> was written long ago, but it was about the power of our words spoken to our children. It made a difference in my life. Then there is the adage, “Be careful of your thoughts, they may become words at any time.” Again, it is all about the heart. We do get new hearts through Christ. Our minds must be renewed as the scriptures say.
Kathleena – the HTML codes don’t work with this new format it seems. So instead of <i>for italics</i>, now we press the I above the text box, or the B for bold.
Good day, from Atlanta. We have a large water main break near us that affects a major part of our county including the Emory campus and hospital, CDC, and so much else. We are not in the line of the affected areas, thankfully, but we are close to it. I was on the phone around 6:30 a.m. calling two friends to make them aware to not use the water. Crews are coming here from Charlotte and Birmingham to help with repair. We have not heard the cause for it yet.
Wandering Views 
I’ve had an interesting morning praying–about harsh words which really can be word curses, over people.
I’ve repented for those words, “broken” any curses I spoke, and then blessed the people about whom I’d spoke harshly.
Have any of you done this before?
I’ve been really struck recently about the power of our words–to breathe life or death over others. Scripture talks about this concept often.
Thoughts?
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I have thought often on the impact and importance of words. God spoke the world into existence. The Word died and rose again to buy us back. We are image bearers. Words matter.
mumsee
LikeLiked by 3 people
Our last Bible study was in James so this immediately came to mind:
James 3:10
“Blessing and cursing come out of the same mouth. My brothers and sisters, these things should not be this way.” CSB
A good portion of James 3 is about controlling the tongue. Great passage to reflect upon.
Of course, I am guilty of getting angry and not thinking before I speak. I think it is a common sin and affliction of most believers. What is less common is to confess and ask forgiveness and then pray for the person. I have done that quite a few times but never enough, never as default behavior as it should be.
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Amen to all of the above.
“It is of the Lord’s mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning, great is thy faithfulness.” (Lamentations 3:22-23)
LikeLiked by 3 people
From The Gospel Coalition (emails sent daily on the day’s Scripture readings):
~ The drama of Nehemiah 4 abounds with lessons and illustrations of various truths. But we must not forget that what to us is a dramatic narrative was to those experiencing it days of brutally hard work, high tension, genuine fear, insecurity, rising faith, dirt and grime. Nevertheless, some lessons transcend the ages:
(1) Among the hardest things to endure is derisory contempt. That is what Nehemiah and the Jews faced from Sanballat, Tobiah, and the rest (Neh. 4:1–3). The Judeo-Christian heritage of Western nations was until recent decades so strong that many Christians were shielded from such scorn. No more. We had better get used to what our brothers and sisters in Christ in other lands and centuries handle better than we.
(2) Although God sometimes works through spectacular and supernatural means, he commonly works through ordinary people who take responsibility for themselves and seek to act faithfully even in difficult circumstances. So the Jews “prayed to [their] God and posted a guard day and night” (Neh. 4:9). They armed themselves and divided their number between fighters and builders, but were also exhorted to, “Remember the Lord, who is great and awesome, and fight for . . . your homes” (Neh. 4:14). Jews living near the enemy heard of the plots to demolish the building project and reported it to Nehemiah, who took appropriate action—but God gets the credit for frustrating the plot (Neh. 4:15).
(3) Practical implications flow from this outlook. (a) It presupposes a God-centered outlook that avoids naturalism. If God is God, if he has graciously made himself known in the great moments of redemptive history and in visions and words faithfully transmitted by prophets he has raised up, why should we not also think of this God as operating in the so-called “natural” course of events? Otherwise we have retreated to some myopic vision in which God works only in the spectacular and the miraculous, but otherwise is absent or asleep or uncaring. The God described in the Bible is never so small or distant. (b) That is why God can be trusted. Nehemiah is not resorting to mere psychological puffery, nor to shameless religious rhetoric. His faith is properly grounded in the God who is always active and who is working out his redemptive-historical purposes in the ending of the exile and the rebuilding of Jerusalem—just as today our faith is properly grounded in the God who is always active and who is working out his redemptive-historical purposes in the calling and transformation of the elect and the building and purifying of his church. ~
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~ Palisades, Eaton fires held in check; winds not as fierce as expected: Containment of the Palisades fire inched higher to 17% as of Tuesday morning, but gusty winds could challenge fire crews. ~
The worst may be over. But the worst was horrible enough.
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Progress.
mumsee
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<i>The Blessing<i/> was written long ago, but it was about the power of our words spoken to our children. It made a difference in my life. Then there is the adage, “Be careful of your thoughts, they may become words at any time.” Again, it is all about the heart. We do get new hearts through Christ. Our minds must be renewed as the scriptures say.
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Hmm, I guess I forgot how to do the italics, but you get the point. 🙂
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Ten!
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Ten?
Since when is “Ten” a thing?
🙂
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Kathleena – the HTML codes don’t work with this new format it seems. So instead of <i>for italics</i>, now we press the I above the text box, or the B for bold.
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Good morning, all. Brother is here so the load is eased substantially. And I will get a progress report on how our dad is doing.
mumsee
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Good day, from Atlanta. We have a large water main break near us that affects a major part of our county including the Emory campus and hospital, CDC, and so much else. We are not in the line of the affected areas, thankfully, but we are close to it. I was on the phone around 6:30 a.m. calling two friends to make them aware to not use the water. Crews are coming here from Charlotte and Birmingham to help with repair. We have not heard the cause for it yet.
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The sweet dog photo is now ice! The icy stream is nice, but the dog was a warm fuzzy!
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