Mouth Guard

Set a guard over my mouth, Lord; keep watch over the door of my lips. (Psalm 141:3 NIV)

As a kid, we signified a secret to be kept between friends by the motion of a key turning at our closed lips, "locking" the secret inside.  We would then throw the invisible key far away, representing that the secret would never be released from the vault behind our lips. All too often, however, the lock mechanism failed and the secret that was previously safe spilled out, betraying the trust that came with the secret.

Psalm 141:3 reminded me of this childhood ritual. In our sinful nature, it is extremely difficult to keep our mouths shut.  Some of us may be good at keeping secrets, but instead we speak words that are unkind, hurtful or just plain ugly.  Jesus said this:

“No good tree bears bad fruit, nor does a bad tree bear good fruit. Each tree is recognized by its own fruit. People do not pick figs from thornbushes, or grapes from briers. A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of. (Luke 6:43-45 NIV)

My heart intends to be good, but sometimes the damaged human sinful part of my heart sends a signal to my lip "door" to open wide and spill out evil.

God knows my heart, and while He works to replace the sinful portions with His perfection, He is willing to stand guard over my mouth. What about you? Have you asked Jesus to change your heart? Have you also asked Him to place a heavenly guard over your mouth while construction is underway?