Have you ever been so weary in your spirit that you felt you would drop? Whoever speaks to you next while you are in that condition holds a lot of power in their tongue even if they don’t know it.

Along comes one who either lifts you up or crushes you further just by what they say. I’ve had it happen both ways and I know which I prefer. Isaiah 50:4 says; “The Lord God has given Me the tongue of the learned, that I should know how to speak a word in season to him who is weary.”

Here’s what I can tell you doesn’t work for me to provide a word in season. I wonder if you feel the same way. A person who challenges where you are and makes you feel like whatever condition you are in is your fault. Maybe so but how does that help? A know-it-all person who has all the solutions while you just want to feel heard.

Ahhh, how refreshing it is when the opposite occurs. A person who speaks words of encouragement and life and somehow causes your spirit to arise. How welcome that is. As I examine myself I have to admit that I have probably been both kinds of people at times. There are many words I’d like to retrieve because I know the person receiving them did not go away refreshed.

I think the “tongue of the learned” is a slow tongue that thinks before it speaks. It is the tongue that asks the Lord whether to say anything at all and if so, what. It is the tongue that wants to impart God’s grace rather than be right or justify itself.

Do you want to join me in this prayer? Lord God, please give us the tongue of the learned!