Read Ecclesiastes 3:7

Kids can be nutty.

Some friends of ours have two daughters. They are now all grown up, but years ago, the younger child was constantly on the move, rarely winding down by bedtime.

One night her dad decided he’d be Mr. Nice Guy, the epitome of patience. Not once did he lose his cool. When Miss Busybody finally ran out of requests, her daddy slipped out of the room, heaved a sigh of relief, and slumped into his favorite chair by the fireplace. Before he could relax, however, there was a piercing scream from the jitterbug’s room. Startled, he rushed to her bedside. Great tears were rolling down the little girl’s face.

“What’s wrong? What happened?”

“I burnt my tongue” she whimpered.

Baffled, he tried again, “You did what?”

“I burnt my tongue!”

“How in the world did you do that?” he asked.

“I licked my night-light!”

The little toot couldn’t control her curiosity. She simply had to discover how it would feel to lick that thing glowing in the night. You and I realize that the best thing our little friend could have done was to stay in bed, keep her tongue to herself, and allow the light to fulfil its appointed purpose.

Because she didn’t, she got burned.

Solomon, the wise king of Israel and poet, passed along to us a list of various types of “appointed times” on earth. Among them he mentioned....

A time to tear and a time to mend.
A time to be quiet and a time to speak. (Ecclesiastes 3:7)

In short, Solomon counsels us to relax.

When the time is right, things flow very naturally, very freely, especially when the Spirit has opportunity to speak and to move. To rush or force matters, for the purpose of proving a point, can create deep friction, leaving scars that take years to erase. Take it from one who has learned this difficult lesson the hard way—keep a tight bridle on your tongue, relax, and settle for a good night’s sleep. Otherwise, you’re going to get pushy, you’re going to get caught with your tongue in the wrong place, and you’re going to get burned.

Devotional content taken from Good Morning, Lord...Can We Talk? by Charles R. Swindoll. Copyright © 2018. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, a Division of Tyndale House Ministries. All rights reserved.

The full devotional can be purchased at https://www.tyndale.com/p/good-morning-lord-can-we-talk/9781414380681.