Psalm 119:9&13 Pure Speech

At least 80% of a typical crowd of women in the Monday evening prison chapel service are incarcerated because of some form of addiction.

For some, the addiction was a direct cause. They were charged and convicted of possession or dealing of marijuana, meth, cocaine, opiods, or other controlled substances. Others are there because they committed a crime either while they were under the influence of their drug of choice (often alcohol) or they broke the law in order to obtain drugs or the money to buy them.

By the time they're in our chapel service, however, they've been forcibly separated from the supply of their addictive substance of choice.

And yet they still struggle with other impure habits.

For many, it's their addiction to nicotine. In the absence of their preferred drug, it's hard to resist the lure of the cigarette. Or of food, another frequent struggle in prison.

Over and over again, though, when we ask the ladies in the chapel what impure habit they're battling most, they curse their addiction to foul language.

For a large number of prisoners, swearing is the only form of communication they've ever known. Since birth they've heard profanity from their parents, expletives from their grandparents, cussing from their siblings, and blasphemy in the streets. The walls of their community are covered with dirty words. They're inundated with conversations laced with lewdness and crudeness.

For the women who want to sanctify their thoughts and words, the task is daunting. In prison there's no place to hide, no way to block out the onslaught of unwholesome speech.

They've encountered the God of holiness in the most unholy of places, and their newly cleansed hearts are beaten down by unwashed filth. The onslaught weighs heavily on them, not only because the words are constantly entering their minds, but because of the continual reminder of their own continued impurity of thought and speech.

Isaiah felt much the same when he "saw the Lord, high and lifted up." The seraphim cried out, "“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory.”

In the face of such holiness, Isaiah's tender heart was wounded, consumed by his own purity.

“Woe to me!” I cried. “I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty.” (Isaiah 6:5)

The Lord's response to Isaiah's impurity of speech is a prescription for those who would clean up their own unhealthy habits of speech.

Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar. With it he touched my mouth and said, “See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for.” (Isaiah 6:6-8)

Is it your tongue that drags you into impurity? Burn it out!!

How can a young person stay on the path of purity? By living according to your word. . .

. . . With my lips I recount all the laws that come from your mouth. 


Psalm 119:9 & 13

When you meditate on the Word it will ignite your spirit in flame and begin a slow and steady chain reaction of transformation deep in my heart. A daily habit of time in the Word will feed a slow burn that purifies your heart, your thoughts, and, inevitably, your words.

It's not enough to get rid of the impure cuss words, rude words, and harsh words. When you allow God's Word to transform your heart, your speech will develop a purity of focus, creating a habit of seasoning your conversation with the salt of God's laws and God's ways.