He who guards his lips guards his life, but he who speaks rashly will come to ruin. Proverbs 13:3
I get a mental picture of two or three guards standing at attention near my mouth. The rifles they hold have bayonets at the end and the sentinels remind me of those at Buckingham Palace. Stone faced. Studied. Serious. Every time I speak, one glances at me, then nods once, still stoic and serious. He knows what I’m going to say, and is merely a “check” before I say it. He looks straight forward again and I am now able to speak freely.
If only it were that simple.
But it is! The Holy Spirit is that guard for us. We merely must ask Him to help us. The fact that we’re asking ensures that at least we are thinking about the issue, something we rarely consider when speaking “freely.” We often don’t ask because we think we know better (though we would rarely state that truth). Pride gets in the way.
He wants us to ask for His help, for our protection and for His glory.