Daily Devotion: Don’t Get Burned

Bible Reading: Ecclesiastes 3:1-8

Key Verse: Verse 7 – “A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;"

Key Words: a time to keep silence

There are some children that simply getting them to bed can be a nightmare in itself.

I read a story some time back about a dad putting his little darling to bed: a bedtime story, a doll, a drink of water, a bedtime prayer, a song, another doll, a kiss, another drink of water, a trip to the bathroom, a warning, another kiss, and finally, the threat. Finally dad makes it to his favorite chair, but before he can stretch out and relax, a piercing scream comes from little “jitterbug’s” room. Dad makes a mad dash to the room to find his little joy of continual motion crying, “What’s wrong?” “What happened?” “I burnt my tongue.” Baffled, he tried again, “You what?” “I burnt my tongue,” she yelled. “How did you burn your tongue?” “I licked the night light.” She simply could not control her curiosity. Rude was her awakening to the fact that lights are strictly for lighting, not for licking. She put her tongue where it didn’t belong and got burned.

Sounds like a lot of people I know!! Solomon said it best in Ecclesiastes 3:7a, “There is a time to keep silence.” Solomon goes on to say, “…and a time to speak.” Knowing when to speak is a real key to proper and godly communication. When the time is right things will flow very naturally, very freely. To rush or force the conversation creates friction and scars that take years to ease. Take the little fellow who plants his seeds, then digs them up everyday to see if they are growing. Waiting is the key to productivity. So often that is true with our words as well.

When the fish aren’t biting, banging on the water with the oar won’t help. You can’t get sap out of a hoe handle, nor can a relationship be corrected by legislative force. There are three important keys to saying what you need to say:

• Right time,
• Right place, and
• Right way.

Take it from one who has learned this lesson the hard way – keep a bridle on your tongue and relax. If not, you’re going to get caught with your tongue in the wrong place and get burned.

What to do:
✞ Apply the three-fold principles for speaking.

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