The Practical Atheism of the Tongue Text: Psalm 34:11-14
Introduction: The School of Christ
We live in a time that is drunk on the pursuit of happiness, but which despises the only map that leads to it. Our culture is filled with gurus and self-help experts peddling their wares, promising a life of fulfillment, peace, and satisfaction. Their advice usually boils down to some form of navel-gazing introspection: "look within," "follow your heart," "speak your truth." But the unregenerate human heart is a factory of idols and a fountain of deceit. Following your heart is like asking a crooked politician for directions to the hall of records. You will not end up where you want to go.
The Scriptures, in stark contrast, do not offer us a set of sentimental platitudes. They offer us a curriculum. They offer us a school, and the headmaster is Christ. The subject we are to learn is not self-esteem, but rather the fear of Yahweh. This is not a peripheral elective; it is the foundational, required course for all of reality. As Proverbs tells us, it is the beginning of wisdom. Not just a part of wisdom, or a helpful add-on to wisdom, but the very starting line. If you do not begin with the fear of the Lord, you are not on the path of wisdom at all. You are a fool, wandering in the wilderness of your own autonomy.
In this Psalm, David, having just escaped a perilous situation by feigning madness, is not writing abstract theology. He is a man who has tasted deliverance, a man who has seen the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. And so he turns, like a seasoned drill sergeant instructing new recruits, to teach us the basic maneuvers of the Christian life. He is inviting us into the school of Christ. And the lesson for today is profoundly practical. It moves from the high doctrine of fearing God straight down to the grimy, everyday business of how we use our mouths and what we do with our hands and feet. This is where the rubber of our theology meets the road of our reality.
The Text
Come, you children, listen to me; I will teach you the fear of Yahweh.
Who is the man who delights in life And loves many days that he may see good?
Guard your tongue from evil And your lips from speaking deceit.
Depart from evil and do good; Seek peace and pursue it.
(Psalm 34:11-14 LSB)
The Foundational Curriculum (v. 11)
The instruction begins with a summons, a call to order.
"Come, you children, listen to me; I will teach you the fear of Yahweh." (Psalm 34:11)
David addresses us as "children." This is not condescending. It is the proper posture of a disciple before a teacher, and more fundamentally, the proper posture of a creature before the Creator. We must come to the Word with humility, with a readiness to be instructed, not to negotiate. The modern world tells us to be masters of our own fate, but the Bible tells us to become like little children. This is the prerequisite for entering the kingdom, and it is the prerequisite for understanding it.
And what is the lesson? "I will teach you the fear of Yahweh." Let us be very clear about what this is and what it is not. The fear of Yahweh is not the cowering dread of a slave before a capricious tyrant. It is not a servile, groveling terror. That kind of fear is the fruit of sin and the property of demons. The fear of the Lord is the awe-struck, creaturely reverence that a finite, dependent being ought to have before an infinite, holy, and sovereign God. It is the kind of fear that makes you take your shoes off on holy ground. It is the kind of fear that makes you tremble at His word. It is the kind of fear that is inextricably bound up with love, trust, and adoration. As Psalm 130 says, "But with you there is forgiveness; therefore you are feared." We fear Him not because He might destroy us, but because He is so glorious that He would save us.
This fear is not a feeling we work up; it is a subject we are taught. It has a grammar, a logic, a set of precepts. It is learned through the instruction of the Word and the discipline of the Lord. It is the central organizing principle of a sane and godly life. Without it, nothing else makes sense.
The Universal Desire (v. 12)
Next, David poses a question that every human heart answers in the affirmative.
"Who is the man who delights in life And loves many days that he may see good?" (Psalm 34:12)
This is a master stroke of rhetoric. He is not asking, "Who wants to be a dour, miserable stoic?" He asks who wants what everyone wants: a long, good, and delightful life. This is a legitimate, God-given desire. God did not create us for misery and death. He created us for life, for joy, for goodness. The garden of Eden was a place of delight. The problem is not the desire, but the method we employ to satisfy it.
The world says that the way to a good life is through acquisition, through self-gratification, through the accumulation of experiences or possessions. It is a horizontal pursuit. The Bible says the good life is a byproduct. It is the result of a vertical alignment. You do not find the good life by seeking the good life. You find the good life by seeking God, the fountain of all goodness, and the good life is thrown in. As Jesus said, "Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you." David is about to connect the dots. You want a good life? Here is the curriculum. It starts with the fear of the Lord, and its first practical application is the government of your tongue.
The First Line of Defense (v. 13)
The instruction moves immediately from the general principle to the specific, practical application.
"Guard your tongue from evil And your lips from speaking deceit." (Psalm 34:13)
Why does the lesson on living a good life start here, with the mouth? Because the tongue is the rudder of the ship. James tells us it is a fire, a world of iniquity, set on fire by hell itself. Jesus tells us that it is out of the abundance of the heart that the mouth speaks. Our words are the diagnostic printout of our spiritual condition. An ungoverned tongue is evidence of an unregenerate heart. To speak evil, to slander, to gossip, to curse, is to engage in a form of practical atheism. It is to act as though God is not listening, as though there will be no accounting for our words.
And notice the specific sin highlighted: "speaking deceit." Deceit is not just outright lying. It is the crafty use of words to mislead, to create a false impression, to manipulate, to flatter, to tear down with clever innuendo. It is the native language of the serpent. When we speak deceitfully, we are speaking our father's native tongue. To guard your lips from deceit is to commit yourself to the truth, because our God is a God of truth. His Word is truth. His Son is the Truth. A man who fears God is a man who loves the truth, and therefore he speaks the truth. He understands that a lie is a profound act of cosmic rebellion. It is an attempt to create an alternative reality, to be a little god. The good life, the long life, is a life lived in accord with reality as God has defined it. And that requires a tongue that has been submitted to the truth.
The Twofold Path of Godliness (v. 14)
The instruction broadens from the tongue to the whole of life's conduct.
"Depart from evil and do good; Seek peace and pursue it." (Psalm 34:14)
Here we have the two necessary motions of the Christian life: repentance and faith, put in practical terms. First, "Depart from evil." This is the negative duty. It is not enough to refrain from evil with your tongue; you must turn your whole self away from it. This is an active, decisive movement. It is a turning of your back on the world, the flesh, and the devil. It is a recognition that evil is not just a mistake, but a poison. You do not negotiate with it; you flee from it.
But Christianity is not merely a religion of subtraction. We are not called to be empty vessels. We must also "do good." This is the positive duty. We are saved by faith alone, but the faith that saves is never alone. It is a faith that works. We are created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. The Christian life is not passive; it is an active engagement in doing good, in building up, in serving, in creating, in bringing order and beauty to our corner of God's world. We depart from the evil of chaos and we do the good of building culture to the glory of God.
Finally, we are to "Seek peace and pursue it." This is not the peace of compromise with evil. It is not the peace of a quiet life that avoids all confrontation. The peace we are to seek is shalom. It is wholeness, rightness, flourishing. It is the state of things when everything is in its proper place, rightly related to God and to everything else. This peace begins with our justification, our peace with God through the blood of Christ. But it must be worked out in all our relationships.
And notice the verbs: "seek" and "pursue." This is not a passive disposition. It requires effort. It means we are to be peacemakers, not just peace-lovers. Sometimes this means overlooking an offense. Other times it means going to a brother and confronting a sin in order to restore the relationship. It is an active, diligent, and sometimes strenuous chase. The good life, the life of delight, is a life of shalom, a life where our relationships are rightly ordered under God. And this is something we must run after, with all our might.
Conclusion: The Integrated Life
So what is the lesson from the school of Christ today? It is that the good life is an integrated life. You cannot separate the fear of God in your heart from the words of your mouth or the works of your hands. They are all of a piece. A man who claims to fear God but has a poisonous tongue is a liar. A man who claims to love life but embraces evil is a fool. A man who says he wants peace but sows discord is a hypocrite.
The path to a long and good life is not found in the latest bestseller or on a talk show. It is found right here. It begins with a profound, awe-filled reverence for the God who made you. That reverence will then take custody of your tongue, putting a guard at the door of your lips. And a heart that fears God and a tongue that speaks truth will inevitably produce a life that turns from evil, actively does good, and pursues the shalom of God in every direction. This is the curriculum. This is the path of life. Let us enroll in this school and be diligent students.