Daily Word of Grace #11: March 31, 2020

One of my favorite preachers is the brilliant and anointed T. D. Jakes. Many years ago I was watching him preach and he said something I have never forgotten, “If you live long enough, at some point life will shut your mouth.” It really hit home for me because I was in a very rough season in many ways, a season in which life had shut my mouth. This is not always a bad thing. Honestly I have much more often regretted saying something I should not have said (“If I were you..” or “In my opinion…” or “I know you’re not asking my advice, but…”) than not saying something I should have said (like “Thank you” or “I’m sorry” or “I love you”). This is the last day of what for many people has been a month when life has shut their mouth. This is exactly what happened with King David, the greatest king in Israel’s history, after he was confronted by Nathan the prophet about his sins. In the wake of this David wrote Psalm 51, which opens, “Have mercy on me, O God, according to your loving-kindness; in your great compassion blot out my offenses.” God answered that prayer not only for David, but also for you, when out of loving kindness and great compassion God had mercy on the entire world on Good Friday. Life even shut Jesus’ mouth as he remained silent before his accusers and yet still went on to blot out all our offenses by dying in our place. Late in Psalm 51 we read how David would respond later, and how we can respond now, “Open my lips, O Lord, and my mouth shall proclaim your praise.”

Love and Prayers,

Dave