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“May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable to You, Lord, my rock and my Redeemer.” (Psalm 19:14 HCSB) |
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David was a great communicator, sharing the most timeless words ever penned by a human. Recently I taught about David’s communication, a lesson that was immediately followed by a wonderful retreat discussion with our senior staff. We considered our own communication in light of David’s, and made use of Joseph McCormack’s book Brief: Making a Bigger Impact by Saying Less. [For Brief we used a marvelous summary our church elder Dan Cox crafted for us.] Jeremy Meyer, one of our pastors, developed a fetching conclusion to the conversation. With slight modification by me, here is his mantra for healthy, godly communication: Be bold. Be calm. Be clear. Be done. This simple and memorable synopsis is founded on Psalm 37 and Proverbs 25, which read in part:
A man without self-control is like a city broken into and left without walls. (Proverbs 25:28 ESV) Be bold. Be calm. Be clear. Be done. That’s a pretty good guide for making the words of our mouths like David’s – acceptable to the Lord. After returning from the retreat with our pastoral leaders, I heard a song that neatly summarizes the desperate need for Davidic communication. Dale Stewart, John Humphrey, Pat Callahan, and Shaun Morgan wrote these lines for Seether’s “Words are Weapons:”
That plaintive cry is universal. Scripture, especially through David’s leadership, has the answer. Be bold. Be calm. Be clear. Be done. If we speak like that, our words can become wonders instead of weapons. Then we have something beautiful to say, something that can live on, something that praises God. |