In March 2019, in Detroit, Michigan, a 50-year-old man in a wheelchair got the surprise of his life when he hastily tried to kill a cockroach.

The man, whose name was not released, saw a cockroach on the floor of his home and hastily grabbed a shoe and threw it at the cockroach.  However, he forgot that his handgun was inside his shoe, and it fell out of his shoe as he threw it.  The gun hit the floor and went off, hitting the man in the foot!  It’s unknown what happened to the cockroach.

Sometimes, when we speak in haste (and especially when we are angry), we can say things that can have an adverse effect on us, similar to our 50-year-old friend shooting himself in the foot!

The words we speak can sometimes be like the bullets of a gun, and they can ricochet back at us.  The sad thing is that once the words leave our lips, we can NEVER take them back.  For good or for bad, they’re gone!

James 3:6 And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity: so is the tongue among our members, that it defileth the whole body, and setteth on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire of hell.

Perhaps King David had a weakness with his words, and maybe this is why he prayed in Psalm 141:3 Set a watch, O LORD, before my mouth; keep the door of my lips.

We probably all need the very same prayer to God – daily.