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I am using readings from the 49 Week Bible Challenge as the basis for these devotions. I encourage you to join me in this discipline. Today’s readings are James 3; Psalm 140; Proverbs 16; Isaiah 32.
James 3:5-9
How great a forest is set ablaze by such a small fire! 6 And the tongue is a fire, a world of unrighteousness. The tongue is set among our members, staining the whole body, setting on fire the entire course of life, and set on fire by hell. 7 For every kind of beast and bird, of reptile and sea creature, can be tamed and has been tamed by mankind, 8 but no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. 9 With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse people who are made in the likeness of God. 10 From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers, these things ought not to be so. 11 Does a spring pour forth from the same opening both fresh and salt water? 12 Can a fig tree, my brothers, bear olives, or a grapevine produce figs? Neither can a salt pond yield fresh water.
“I think you would be a good pastor,” she said. Little did she know that one day she would be a pastor’s wife, my dear Diane!
“Maybe you’re just not smart enough to take a foreign language,” my sixth grade teacher said. Little did she know I would one day attain at least minimal proficiency in German and Greek, and an ability to read and slog my way through Hebrew.
Words have great power. The first example was so very edifying and encouraging. My teacher’s words hurt and stunted my academic progress for years. Truly, I may well not have been able to handle a foreign language at that time. But she could have said, “You might want to wait a year or two before tackling a foreign language.” That might not have stung so much!
James reminds us that words can hurt and words can heal. The tongue can set a destroying fire and destroy relationships. That same tongue can also praise God. “From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers, these things ought not to be so” (James 3:10).
There are times when a strong word is needed. Paul tells Titus that a pastor, “must hold firm to the trustworthy word as taught, so that he may be able to give instruction in sound doctrine and also to rebuke those who contradict it.”
But recall James’ earlier words, “the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God” (James 1:20). And Solomon says, “Gracious words are like a honeycomb, sweetness to the soul and health to the body” (Proverbs 16:24). Not only that, but he also says, “Whoever is slow to anger is better than the mighty, and he who rules his spirit than he who takes a city” (Proverbs 24:32).
Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight,
O Lord, my rock and my redeemer (Psalm 19:14). That’s a good prayer for all of us – teachers and learners alike.
David Bahn - Reflections 
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