Throwing up....

Set a guard over my mouth, O LORD; keep watch over the door of my lips. Let not my heart be drawn to what is evil, to take part in wicked deeds with men who are evildoers; let me not eat of their delicacies. Psalm 141:3-4

We are not only physical beings, we are spiritual beings as well. When our physical beings become sick....and we vomit, partially digested food comes up from the stomach, travels through the esophagus and proceeds out of the mouth. Stick with me.... Likewise, when our spiritual beings are sick, there is also a great tendency toward vomitting. However, the starting place of this type of vomit is not the stomach- it is the heart. So, the vomit begins in the heart, travels up through the vocal chords and proceeds out of the mouth. This is otherwise known as "speech." The psalmist in the passage above is pleading to the Lord to provide a guard over his mouth...in essence, the Psalmist is requesting help from the Lord with his speech. But, the next verse verifies that the Psalmist understands the true source of "vomit" speech, i.e. the heart. "Let not my heart be drawn..." This is exactly what Jesus meant when he said:

For out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks. The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in him, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in him. Matthew 12:34-35

I think we should take a close listen today to our speech....it will indicate the condition of our heart. Up for the challenge?