Not Knowing What to Say

 

 

“You talking foolishness.”

Has this ever been said to you?

You don’t know what you are saying.”

That’s another one too.

 

If you had no such experience

You are very unlike me,

I have had a number of instances

When I said something silly.

 

It could have been my dad

Or it may have been my mother,

It could have been my sister

Or maybe one of my brothers.

 

The probability of it being family

I could never deny,

The hardest hits come from them-

On family you can rely.

 

Sometimes we get excited

And may say a silly thing

And only after sober reflection

In our head it rings.

 

In the Bible there is a case

Where something like this occurred,

The speaker opened his mouth

And what came out was absurd.

 

In the words of Holy Scripture

“For he wist not what to say.”

He was overcome with excitement

Which was really due to fear.

 

 

He along with two colleagues

Was taken on a mount,

Go to St. Mark chapter 9 verse 1

And read of that account.

 

By now you know it was Peter

Always the first to speak,

And often said something amiss

Before he could press delete.

 

Moses and Elijah, Peter elevated

By the very words he said,

And the Lord Jesus he relegated;

He was obviously not Spirit-led.

 

Swift action had to be taken

So that Peter could understand

The one who was there transfigured

Was God’s Son and not mere man.

 

When our emotions well up

We are prone to speak ill-advisedly

And the delete button is to no avail

If we press it belatedly.

 

 

I end with the words of David

In the Psalm 141 verse 3

David too encountered this challenge

Just like you and me.

 

“Set a watch, O LORD, before my mouth;

Keep the door of my lips.”

Unless the Lord watches over our mouths

There is likely to be many a slip.

 

Stewart Russell © May 2, 2021