Job 5:21

Thou shalt be hid from the scourge of the tongue.

The scourge of the tongue

I. The scourge. “The scourge of the tongue.”

1. There is the lying tongue. It perverts facts. It turns the lame out of the way and misleads the blind.

2. There is the cursing tongue.

3. There is the obscene tongue.

4. There is the scolding tongue. What martyrs have some members of a family become! A scolding tongue withers and blights everything it comes across, just like the lightning withers and blasts the tree it strikes. It is as a goad to an ox, the mosquito to the traveller, the thorn eating into the gangrened flesh.

II. The deliverance. “Thou shall be hid from the scourge of the tongue.” It is one of the peculiarities of God’s promises that He does not undertake to remove evils. We shall be hid--

1. By the direct influence of Divine power. God will restrain the evil speaker and the rage of the ungodly.

2. By the sanctifying influence of Divine grace. There axe some creatures who when water is poured on them repel the same by the nature of their skin or feathers. So the heart which is prepared by grace, casts aside and rejects the evil word, or the cruel insinuation, or the boisterous abuse; these things have no power over it.

3. By the resignation of a chastened spirit. The chastened spirit of the Christian disarms the shafts of the evil tongue, and, bending before the furious blast, is spared the poignant stings of malice.

4. By the prospect of future freedom. The nauseous taste of medicine is little heeded when the anticipated end is considered, which is restored health and renewed strength. So in the view of future glory and entire sanctification, the present bitterness will be little regarded. (J. J. S. Bird.)

The scourge of the tongue

Some folks lay themselves out to be as unpleasant as they can and say disagreeable things. They are the wasps of human intercourse. The candid friends whom Canning so abhorred, the people who “speak their mind,” but have a mind that were far better not spoken. (H. O. Mackey.)