Psalm 39:1 “I said, I will take heed to my ways, that I sin not with my tongue: I will keep my mouth with a bridle, while the wicked is before me.”
It is often difficult to control our “tongue”, most especially “while the wicked is before” us! The “wicked” say harsh and cold and mean things, and they are deceitful and cruelly dishonest; for, they seek to satisfy their own lusts for power and gain without regard to the loss and pain and suffering of others. The “wicked” have no respect for the life of anyone but their own. Yet, the “born again” Children of God are under Divine Commandment to keep a “bridle” on our “tongue”. It is easy and most satisfying to our carnal mind to speak with venom and hatred to “the wicked” who are “before” us. But, we are commanded to calmly speak the truth and stand upon the truth. When we let our tong get loose, we quickly deteriorate into ungodly behavior, and spew out unseemly things, and tend to stretch the truth ourselves. Those who have the greater spiritual strength and wisdom and godliness are able to respond to wickedness with calm resolve and steadfast commitment to the truth, without even a hint of compromise. So, let us prayerfully “keep” our “mouth with a bridle” so “that” we will “sin not with” our “tongue”!