Have you ever heard the expression “God gave you two ears and one mouth for a reason”? This terse admonishment essentially is saying, “Hey! You need to do more listening and less talking.” This wise saying is quite the word picture to get a point across! Obviously God created us with two ears and one mouth in order to effectively hear and speak, but oftentimes in a figurative sense God probably wants us to do more listening and less speaking.
In a similar vein, God uses the book of James in the Bible to dispense all sorts of wisdom in how powerful and dangerous our mouths can be. In James 3, we are given many word pictures to describe the tongue: bit in horse’s mouth, rudder on a ship, fire by hell, deadly poison, both fresh & salt water. Each metaphor gives us a lot to ponder, but in our short time I want to expand on our tongues being like a rudder.
When the Titanic was making its ill-fated voyage across the Atlantic in 1912, there was much fanfare and boasting about how great and mighty this ship was. There was even the audacious claim by one White Star Line employee that “Not even God himself could sink this ship!” To live up to all these claims the chairman of the ship building company encouraged Captain Edward Smith to go as fast as possible through the chilly North Atlantic waters.
As we all know the Titanic sank due to striking an iceberg. Even though a lookout on the crow’s nest spotted the iceberg, due to the size of the ship and the speed it was traveling, the ocean liner was unable to veer quick enough to avoid striking the large chunk of ice. The words of the Apostle James quickly come to mind when thinking about turning such a big ship, “Although they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are steered by a very small rudder wherever the pilot wants to go.” (James 3:4)
How many times have you found yourself in a disagreement and your brain quickly comes up with a snarky or mean response? How many times have you been heading toward an impact with damaging results all the while a still small voice is yelling “Iceberg, right ahead!” but your brain was moving too fast and could not avoid the destructive collision of words with someone else? How many times have you hurt—or been hurt—by words?
Mind you, these words are not just the audible sounds coming out of our mouths, but the words we send in a text message or social media post or even by sharing someone else’s words. Ultimately we are responsible for the messages that come forth out of us. We are in charge of navigating these waters we sail in.
It all seems so simple but yet it is still so profound: Our tongues are small yet very influential to our whole being. Just as a ship uses its rudder to find safe harbor by following the correct course and being vigilant in avoiding obstacles, our tongues help our souls navigate our lives by following proper instruction and being prepared for whatever may come our way. Conversely, we stray from the path and are not prepared at our own peril!
The letter James wrote is a book of wisdom full of warnings and blessings for those who choose to follow Jesus. I encourage you to look up James 3:1-12 in the New Testament of your Bible. Pour over the instructions James gives us all in understanding how dangerous our tongues are and how mindful we need to be of using this small and powerful tool God has given us. Pray for the Holy Spirit’s guidance both in understanding what God is saying to you and how you can be ready for when those trying times come your way.
