Voices in My Head

11.06.11

Psalm 120.1-2  1 I call on the LORD in my distress, and he answers me. 2 Save me, LORD, from lying lips and from deceitful tongues. NIV

You know, it would be one thing if the lying lips and deceitful tongues were those of others. And surely they are out there. And surely they are hurtful; and surely they are very hard to deal with. When someone (or some one’s) is trash-talking us and seemingly having an affect, it’s tough to take. Hurtful words hurt. But at least it’s someone (or some one’s) to blame. But what about when the lying lips and deceitful tongues are the voices in our own head?

The Apostle Paul said, “Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.” (Romans 12.2 NIV) It’s harder to do when the voices in our head keep assaulting the faith in our heart.

When I read this today, I thought about the voices in my head that keep telling me, be afraid, be very afraid. And why do those voices keep saying that? Simple: those voices represent a part of me that is hostile to anything God wants to do in my life. Those voices speak for a part of me that is dreadfully opposed to God. At the end of Psalm 120 it says, I am for peace; but when I speak, they are for war. (v. 7) My flesh is at enmity with my spirit. All I can ever expect out of my flesh is the incessant accusation that God is absent, impotent, or lying. That is how evil the thought process is within me (and you too, if you are a child of God.)

So the psalmist sang: I call on the LORD in my distress, and he answers me. Every time the fears assail and the lying lips prevail, the child of God must begin to wail and in his prayer to God travail. Because lying lips lie. And the one who listens to them will see their faith begin to erode and die.

Jesus said this: And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him. (Matthew 6.7-8 NIV) There is an operative thought here: because they think. You sometimes do what you think. And when you don’t you sometimes imagine or fantasize about what you think. And when you spend time thinking about what you think, you sometimes lose focus on what is truly important: like what God thinks. Lookit, I don’t know what you’re thinking today, but if it’s about a need that you have and you can’t emphatically say in faith that your Father knows what you need before you ask Him, then your thinking is wrong and fear and doubt will paralyze you before long. That is precisely why the psalmist sang that song.

Sometimes my distress is totally of my own making and it’s all because I am listening to the lying voices in my head and not to the truth God put in my heart. The best way to kill lying lips is by: calling on the LORD in my distress, and hearing Him answer me. Lord, save me, from lying lips and from deceitful tongues – especially the ones in my head. Amen.

If we accomplish nothing else in life let's accomplish just this: that we believe God and trust Him to care for us completely, continually, and eternally.