Keep Watch Over the Door

King David penned numerous prayers and hymns, many of which are recorded in the book of Psalms. His prayers and hymns are applicable to every generation, for they speak of despair and hope, temptation and perseverance, suffering and endurance, sorrow and joy, sin and grace. Whatever the topic at hand, he loves to remind God’s people that one’s voice is continually to praise the name of the one true God.

“I will bless the LORD at all times; His praise shall continually be in my mouth” (Psalm 34:1).

“My mouth is filled with Your praise, and with Your glory all the day” (Psalm 71:8).

“I will sing of the steadfast love of the LORD, forever; with my mouth I will make known Your faithfulness to all generations” (Psalm 89:1).

Do these words describe you? Is God’s praise continually in your mouth? If a person reads these psalms in isolation, he might conclude that praising God’s name comes naturally and effortlessly for the Christian. Nothing could be further from the truth. As sinners, our mouths all too often spew forth the opposite. Foul language. Cursing. Broken promises. Little white lies. Gossip. Tearing others down. There’s a reason why two of the ten commandments—the Second and Eighth—deal directly with one’s mouth. “You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain” (Exodus 20:7). “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor” (Exodus 20:16). The truth be told, we sinners love to use our mouths, our voices, our words for unholy purposes.

For that reason, King David also teaches us to pray: “Set a guard, O LORD, over my mouth; keep watch over the door of my lips!” (Psalm 141:3).

As a Christian, you do well to pray this prayer daily. To beseech God to set a guard over your mouth to deliver you “from lying lips, from a deceitful tongue” (Psalm 120:2). To ask God to keep watch over the door of your lips to “keep your tongue from evil and your lips from speaking deceit” (Psalm 34:13). To implore God to forgive you for all the times you’ve opened the door of our lips and spoken words that tear down rather than build up. To pray that God would set a guard over your mouth so that your words will “always be gracious” (Colossians 4:6). For “whoever desires to love life and see good days, let him keep his tongue from evil and his lips from speaking deceit” (1 Peter 3:10).

Keep watch over the door of my lips, O Lord, for “it is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but what comes out of the mouth; this defiles a person” (Matthew 15:11). By Your grace, “let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Your sight, O LORD, my rock and my redeemer” (Psalm 19:14).

Keep watch over the door of my lips, O Lord, and help me to choose my words carefully, to speak the truth in love, to confess Jesus faithfully and fearlessly, and to adorn my speech with Your gracious words and promises. Because Your help is needed, I pray: “O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth will declare Your praise” (Psalm 51:15).

Keep watch over the door of my lips, O Lord, that I may serve You with gladness, that I may come into Your presence with singing, that I may enter Your gates with thanksgiving and Your courts with praise. For You are good; Your steadfast love endures forever, and Your faithfulness to all generations.

In joyous response to all that my Lord Jesus has done to save me from sin, death, and hell, “I will sing to the LORD, because He has dealt bountifully with me” (Psalm 13:6).

This article appears in Divine Shepherd’s June newsletter.