Psalm 7: Words

We’ve all heard the old children’s saying, “Stick and stones can break my bones, but words can never hurt me.” It’s one of those sayings that everybody knows, but nobody believes. I know people that say they don’t care what other people say, I’m not sure I believe them. There are people that definitely deal with the words of others better than I, maybe even better than you, but to say that words don’t matter seems to be more like wishful thinking than reality.

David was a man that was acquainted with criticism, with other people’s opinions, even with rejection. When he was a young man and the prophet Samuel came to his father’s house to anoint the next king of Israel, David’s dad didn’t even bother to call him to stand in line with his other sons. If a king was going to be anointed that day, Jesse assumed it wouldn’t be David. When David was the only man brave enough to go and face the Philistine giant Goliath, his brothers ridiculed him, King Saul doubted him, and the giant mocked him. When David became the greatest warrior in Israel, King Saul slandered him and then tried to kill him. As the king, David’s wife attempted to shame him, and his oldest son betrayed and overthrew him. If anyone should have had “thick skin” it should have been David. If anyone should have learned how to let things roll off his back it should have been David. But what we learn in Psalm 7, really before we even start Psalm 7, is that words hurt, they wounded and mattered to David, and they probably matter to you as much as they matter to me.

The description prior to verse 1 tells us that this is a song that David sang to the LORD concerning, or because of the “words of Cush, a Benjaminite.” We’ve already read Psalms that David wrote in prophesy of the coming Messiah and in response to being betrayed by his son, here we read a song that David wrote because of the words of someone named Cush. This is the only time Cush is mentioned in the Bible. There are a couple of thoughts on who he might have been, or what event this might be referring to, but all we know for sure, is that this man, mentioned once in Scripture, said something to or about David that caused his soul to feel “torn apart”.

Words matter. Proverbs 18:21 says “The tongue has the power of life and death.” A verse that is all important but has most often been used to create an atmosphere of positive confession. This is not a strategy that tells us how to get what we want and avoid what we don’t, it’s a call to be careful with every word we allow to fall from our mouths. Jesus said, and this one should concern those of us who just like to “get stuff off our chest”, in Matthew 12:36-37, “I tell you, on the day of judgement people will give account for every careless word they speak, for by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.” Our words don’t only matter to the people we are speaking to, they matter to God. When we tell someone to get over it, to move on or to just forget that we ever said it, we are actually telling them to do things that God won’t do. If God is taking an account of our words, if He’s measuring our heart by the things that come out of our mouths, shouldn’t we all be more careful about what we say, shouldn’t we all guard our hearts by taking responsibility for our words?

I’m not talking about speaking less, although I’m not going to argue with you if you make that application, I’m talking about speaking more faithfully, lovingly, patiently and graciously. There are things that need to be said, but do they need to be said the way we are saying them? There are issues that must be addressed, but are we taking pleasure in the confrontation or are we desiring to win a brother? Are we speaking from frustration or for reconciliation? Are we speaking from our rightness or to reveal God’s righteousness? Are we speaking words that come from, lead to and sound like the character of God? Difficult truth must be spoken, but it doesn’t have to be spoken by difficult people.

I’m not going to get into the body of the Psalm, I’ll let you do that. I just want to ask each of us to think and pray more before we speak. I also want to encourage us to ask, if life and death are spoken, then they are also heard. It seems as if David was in a difficult season in his life and the words of Cush, didn’t push him over the edge, they filled his ears and his heart with hurt. What are others hearing when we speak? Do they hear a heart of love or do they feel the sting of hurt? How many of our relationships would be strengthened, how many of our reputations would be changed, if we checked our hearts before we opened our mouths?

My last thought today, if you’ve been hurt by words, please don’t harbor offence or bitterness. Don’t let the words of others shape your view of yourself or of anyone else. David doesn’t just show us that words matter, he also shows us where to go when we’ve been hurt by words. He went and sang a song to the LORD, a song of hurt, probably of tears, of anger, of disappointment, but rather than turning his words against Cush, he turned his hurt to the LORD. If your heart is hurt by things said today or long ago, turn your words into a song to God. He won’t take the words from your memory, but He can take the hurt from your heart.