Jeffrey R. Holland taught from Psalm 141:3. . . .
. . . . there is power in speech and great influence in words. But there are some times when we ought not to speak, times when quite literally we ought to keep our mouths shut. Part of the difference between the Old Testament and the New was that in the Old Testament there was a more pronounced theory of retribution. The reasoning was that if you say something ill of me, I can say something just as ill of you in return. And so it went for hundreds of years, “eye for an eye, and tooth for a tooth.”
One of the greatest things said about the Savior was the testimony of His chief Apostle Peter, who recorded that “when he was reviled, [he] reviled not.” Gospel virtues like patience, long-suffering, kindness, and charity all suggest that we not do harm, spoken or otherwise, even when such harm has been done to us. Some things we simply endure. A certain part of a Christian’s life is to “suffer in silence” rather than to add to the trouble, add to the pain, add to the mistake. Two wrongs don’t make a right; if someone has wronged us, we gain nothing by replying in kind.
Perhaps nowhere is the lesson more readily taught and more readily needed than in the daily life of a home and family. There are some things that a spouse should never say to a mate, even when provoked. There are some things a parent should never say to a child, even when patience has been tried to its very limit. There are certainly some things that a child should never say to a parent if he or she is to keep the great fifth commandment given of God.
We should learn to curb our tongues. We should remember that spoken words can never be recalled and may be remembered in sorrow and regret forever. Not everything we feel has to be said. Almost nothing we think in anger has to be said. Truly our world would be a happier and better place if in times of distress and trouble we could cry out, “Set a watch, O Lord, before my mouth; keep the door of my lips.” ~Elder Jeffrey R. Holland, For Times of Trouble (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 2012), 147-48
