The Positive Power Of The Tongue

“In James 3, we read of the damage that “little member” – the tongue – can do. Reading today’s Proverb, however, contained several reminders of the positive effect our tongue can have. Below is just one of those reminders:

“By long forbearing is a prince persuaded, and a soft tongue breaketh the bone.” Proverbs 25:15 

Matthew Henry’s comments on the above verse are as follows:

“Two things are here recommended to us, in dealing with others, as likely means to gain our point:– 1. Patience, to bear a present heat without being put into a heat by it, and to wait for a fit opportunity to offer our reasons and to give persons time to consider them. By this means even a prince may be persuaded to do a thing which he seemed very averse to, much more a common person. That which is justice and reason now will be so another time, and therefore we need not urge them with violence now, but wait for a more convenient season. 2. Mildness, to speak without passion or provocation: A soft tongue breaks the bone; it mollifies the roughest spirits and overcomes those that are most morose, like lightning, which, they say, has sometimes broken the bone, and yet not pierced the flesh. Gideon with a soft tongue pacified the Ephraimites and Abigail turned away David’s wrath. Hard words, we say, break no bones, and therefore we should bear them patiently; but, it seems, soft words do, and therefore we should, on all occasions, give them prudently.” ~ Matthew Henry