Psalm 38:13-14 says, “But I, like a deaf man, do not hear; / And I am like a dumb man, who does not open his mouth. / Indeed I am like a man who does not hear / And in whose mouth there are no reproofs.” Many people indeed need to be as a deaf man who does not hear. When others speak unbecoming things, you should act like a deaf man who does not hear anything. You should simply say, “I cannot hear.” If you want to be a little stronger, you can testify something to him. If you want to be stronger still, you can rebuke him, saying, “Brother! What do you think I am? Why do you dump so many words on me?” You can also give a word of testimony: “I think a Christian should not say such things. Such words should not come out of a Christian’s mouth.” You may also say, “Brother! Wait a minute before you continue to speak. I am leaving.” If you are a deaf man, you will be blessed. Many times you have to act like a deaf man who does not hear anything. You must also learn to be like the dumb who cannot speak anything. Words are a great temptation, and you must learn to overcome them.
In Isaiah 42, which is altogether a prophecy concerning the Lord Jesus, verse 19 says, “Who is blind except My servant, / And as deaf as My messenger, whom I will send? / Who is as blind as the one at peace with Me, / And as blind as the servant of Jehovah?” When the Lord was on the earth, there were many words He would not listen to.
Please remember that the less filth and gossip we hear, the less trouble we will have. We have enough troubles, problems, and filth within ourselves already. If we add more to them, we will not be able to go on at all. A new believer must learn from the beginning to reject the temptation of listening. We must be deaf like the Lord Jesus was. Who is deaf like our Lord? The way of our Lord is most upright. This is why He is not bound by anything.
New believers must be taught in the matter of speaking. They must be taught the way to speak, and they also must be taught the way to listen. They must learn to fear God in the matter of speaking. This is a great matter, and it is a definite threshold which one has to cross definitely.
This lesson does not come without a price. We need to spend much time to develop the habit of speaking accurately. I do not believe a new believer in the Lord can overcome in this matter in a short time. I have found out that accurate words are more difficult to come by than many other things. If we allow a little carelessness to come in, we will find mistakes in our words and motives. Lying is one example of this. Speaking inaccurate words is a form of lying, and so is any attempt to mislead others. Sometimes a person may say the right thing with the intention of misleading others. This is lying as well. A new believer must pay attention to this matter and must exercise considerable effort to deal with it from the very beginning.
Psalm 141:3 says, “Set a watch, O Jehovah, before my mouth; / Keep the door of my lips.” We need to have such a prayer. We need to say, “Set a watch over my tongue so that I will not speak rashly.” Perhaps some will need to pray, “Set a watch over my ears so that I will not listen carelessly.” If we do this, the church will be spared many troubles and we will advance in a proper way.
One thing surprises me greatly. Many brothers are bold to speak carelessly, and many people listen to them with no sense of fear at all. This is a great sickness among us! Clearly this is a grave malady! Whenever we lend our ears to improper words, we are sick! It is a serious sickness for anyone to accept words without reservation or discretion! We must learn to reject filthy fruit. Any kind of poison will spread among God’s children and will bring in ungodliness, rebellion, and looseness. May God be gracious to us and have mercy on us so that we would learn to speak in a proper way from the very beginning. May we learn to run the straight race before us!