Recently I woke up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom. I chose not to turn on any lights because I was afraid they might bother my sleeping wife.
Turns out, that was a mistake. About halfway there I stubbed my toe on the corner of my dresser. It hurt like crazy!
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‘Embarrassing’ confession
I am embarrassed to confess that my first inclination upon suffering this sharp pain was to let out a shout, taking the Lord’s name in vain. Somehow, I managed to muffle my agony and change the verbiage to “Sugar!” which I heaved out intensely under my breath.
It did get me wondering why some of us are so tempted to use God’s name profanely when we want to express anger. God didn’t make me stub my toe. That was my own silly fault.
I guess, in the moment, it is human nature to want somebody else to blame. We don’t want to blame ourselves. We can’t blame other people — they’d get mad at us. So God becomes an easy target. Apparently, we figure, since He is in control of all things He must have caused this misfortune.
I know a person for whom profanity is common any time he encounters something negative. When asked why he curses so much, he replied, “I don’t really mean anything by it. I’m just blowing off steam.”
Serious business
In other words, it’s a habit. A bad one. Taking the Lord’s name in vain may be something humans regard lightly, but God clearly does not. Scripture is loaded with warnings about disrespecting His holy name: “Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers” (Eph. 4:29). In the third chapter of James the author writes “Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this should not be.” In Matthew 12 Jesus warns, “But I tell you that everyone will have to give account on the day of judgment for every empty word they have spoken.”
We all get angry. We must learn to handle it with patience and grace.
EDITOR’S NOTE — Ken Lass is a retired Birmingham television news and sports anchor and an award-winning columnist for numerous publications and websites.
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