Management Position Open

I said to myself, “I will watch what I do and not sin in what I say. I will hold my tongue when the ungodly are around me.” But as I stood there in silence—not even speaking of good things—the turmoil within me grew worse. The more I thought about it, the hotter I got, igniting a fire of words... (Psalm 39:1-3)

Have you ever tried to NOT say something, only to find the harder you try NOT to say it, the more you THINK about it? You mull those words over and over in your mind, trying to figure out if you can find another way to say it, but all the while you are aware those words just shouldn't be spoken no matter how you form them. It always amazes me how 'hard' we can try and how 'easy' it is to let loose! The more we 'mull', the more we will 'spew' - it might not be a verse from the bible, but you can take that one to the bank!

These negative words we mull upon actually create a kind of turmoil within - much like that of a funnel cloud. We get all 'worked up' and before long, we are bringing words into the thoughts that don't even relate to the stuff we are mulling upon. It is like they get 'caught up' into the turmoil of other words, all of them mixing together, until it is a jumble of thoughts all colliding within our minds. The 'cloud' is building into quite a storm! Try to hold back a tornado and you find the 'force' isn't easily contained - neither are our words.

What we think eventually leads to how we will act. That is the danger in trying to 'manage' all these thoughts on our own. We don't actually 'manage' well! We are one of the worst managers our minds have ever encountered. We need God's help if we are to be 'managed well', my friends. We might think we have developed some good 'management strategies' when it comes to our thoughts and words, but just think back to the last time you said something that ignited a disagreement. How were your 'management skills' in that moment? If you are anything like me, you knew you had just poured kerosene on an open flame!

David says something here that we might just miss. He points toward 'speaking of good things' - in other words, bringing God's Word into the mix of all the jumble of thoughts within. I have come to the conclusion that when God's Word is 'rehearsed' (mulled over) in those moments of irrational and muddle thoughts, the tendency to 'pick up' all the other 'muddled thoughts' is less. We don't see the 'funnel cloud of emotions' grow bigger and bigger. We see 'rational' replace 'irrational' and 'kindness' replace 'anger'. 

We may not be the right ones to manage our words because we have all that emotional baggage trying to get 'picked up' into the mix, but we have been given the wisdom found in the Word of God to help keep that emotional baggage in its place. We have been given the Holy Spirit to help us recall that wisdom and then to help us 'rehearse' it rather than the garbage we allow to get caught up in our minds. We need to be under 'proper management' if we want to see any control over our thoughts and words. That management position belongs to Christ - not us. Just sayin!