“All the words of my mouth are just; none of them is crooked or perverse.”

In this verse, the writer is directly contrasting the speech of the deceptive woman he wrote of earlier. Wisdom is telling us that she speaks in perfect alignment with God and His divinity. It is humbling—embarrassing, even—and greatly disappointing to realize that at times my speech aligns much more with the deceptive woman than with the wise woman of this chapter. The goal is to reverse that. The process of achieving it is certainly prayer and yielding to the prompting and power of the Holy Spirit. It is also found in practice—practicing staying quiet when I don’t have anything to say that is a blessing and encouragement, or representative of God Himself. My challenge is not to get drawn into conversation that misrepresents the God who lives within me. The key is found in James, where we are encouraged to be quick to listen and very slow to speak. It’s also seen in his admonition not to allow anger to rule us. Angry words tend to be the most painful to others and the hardest to undo. We serve a God whose words not only teach, challenge, and encourage, but change us. His words are supernatural. They were never intended merely to inform; they are meant to transform. Today, be transformed by His words—and let them be reflected in yours. #BeTheEdge

“My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry,” James 1:19 NIV