Do you want your tongue to be wise?
Do you see someone who speaks in haste?
There is more hope for a fool than for them.
Proverbs 29:20
All-Wise God,
Forgive our foolishness.
Heal our tongues,
which often speak “rashly,
like the thrusts of a sword” (Proverbs 12:18).
We have become deeply enculturated
in a world that is quick to speak
and slow to listen
when you have called us
as citizens of your kingdom
to be “quick to hear,
slow to speak,
slow to anger” (James 1:19).
Lord, we confess to you some of the sins
that slip off our tongues:
comparison,
envy,
judgment,
gossip,
criticism,
slander,
to name just a few.
Change us, Lord,
so that “no evil talk come(s) out of our mouths,
but only what is useful for building up,
as there is need,
so that our words may give grace
to those who hear” (Ephesians 4:29).
Grant us
the loving wisdom,
extraordinary patience,
and sacrificial forgiveness
of your Son
who taught us to love our enemies
and to pray for those who persecute us (Matthew 4:43-44).
In Jesus’s all-wise name. Amen.
Read Proverbs 29.
