Divine Design: The Heart-Tongue Connection

“If we had a creator, I would have to say that the creator is pretty stupid.”

That quote was recently made by a celebrity astrophysicist. What an insulting statement! I admit, I did not even like repeating that statement in written form, much less saying it with authority as he did recently. To be clear, his statement is not only offensive: it is incorrect. The Bible clearly teaches that we have a creator, from the very first verse! Genesis 1:1 – “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.” A multitude of verses confirm this truth, including Psalm 19:1, Psalm 33:6, Isaiah 42:5, and Colossians 1:16, just to name a few. Furthermore, mankind was a special creation by God, created in His image: “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.” (Genesis 1:27)

What brought this astrophysicist to such an offensive conclusion? He contends that God did a poor job of creating mankind. This man takes issue with a number of the design decisions that the Lord made when He formed the body of man and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life (Genesis 2:7). According to this scientist, some of the decisions that God made were both illogical and inefficient.

The Design of the Tongue

One of the primary flaws that he highlights concerns the creation of one of the nerves in our body. The recurrent laryngeal nerve is a nerve that is responsible for our voice, breathing, and swallowing. The astrophysicists’ contention is that the design of this nerve could be improved because it currently takes an unnecessarily long detour from the brain to the voice box. Rather than going in a straight line between the brain to the throat, it takes a winding path down and around the aorta, the primary artery of the human heart.

I find it fascinating that the observation by this scientist is a perfect illustration of 1 Corinthians 3:19: “For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written, He taketh the wise in their own craftiness.” Approaching anatomy from a secular view, it may be natural to view the above example as an indication of inefficient design, but that would betray a lack of understanding of our Creator. We know that our Lord makes no mistakes. This raises the question: What possible reason could there be for this seemingly unnecessary design decision?

I believe the Lord was illustrating a truth from His Word through His divine design of the human body. The recurrent laryngeal nerve, which is essential for our ability to speak, makes a detour down and around our heart. That is amazing! It is as if God wants us to understand that there is a connection between our tongues and hearts. Every time we speak, we can picture our words traveling from our brain, around our heart, and out of our mouth.

The Connection Between the Tongue and the Heart in Scripture

There are many verses that connect the tongue with the heart in the Scriptures, and each of them teaches us an important truth.

– We Talk About What We Love

Luke 6:45 – “A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is evil: for of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaketh.”

This verse reminds us of the truth that the condition of our hearts will have an impact on our words. Our speech often reveals our spiritual condition.

Parents love to speak about their children. Grandparents really love talking about their grandchildren! Why is that? It is because they love those whom they are speaking about. Their hearts are so full of love for their grandchildren that they desire to tell others about them.

How much we value the Lord will be revealed by how much we talk about Him. If we truly love the Lord, we should be sharing Him with those around us. Psalm 105:1-2 says, “O give thanks unto the Lord; call upon his name: make known his deeds among the people. Sing unto him, sing psalms unto him: talk ye of all his wondrous works.”

Are you giving him thanks? Making His deeds known? Are you singing to Him? Are you talking of His wondrous works! Out of the abundance of the heart, your mouth should speak.

– Our Speech is Guided By Our Heart

Proverbs 16:1 – “The preparations of the heart in man, and the answer of the tongue, is from the LORD.”

Proverbs 16 focuses on the sovereignty of God over human plans, and the first verse sets the tone, revealing another relationship between the heart and the tongue. The answer of our tongue is going to be informed by how our heart has been prepared.

I am a planner by nature. When I travel, I typically have a detailed itinerary that I try to stick to in order to make the most efficient use of my time. The planning is accompanied by preparation. I was never a Boy Scout, but I appreciate the motto: “Be prepared”.

How do we prepare our hearts?

• We can ask the Lord to forgive our sins, and for our hearts to be clean – (Psalm 51:10 – “Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.”)
• We can seek the law of the Lord – (Ezra 7:10 – “For Ezra had prepared his heart to seek the law of the Lord, and to do it, and to teach in Israel statutes and judgments.”)
• We can direct our hearts to the Lord – (1 Samuel 7:3 – “…prepare your hearts unto the Lord, and serve him only…”)

If we have a prepared heart, the answer of our tongue will be informed by the wisdom of God, not the wisdom of this world. The preparation of the heart and the answer of the tongue are from the Lord.

– We Must Guard Our Heart and Our Tongue

James 1:26 – “If any man among you seem to be religious, and bridleth not his tongue, but deceives his own heart, this man’s religion is vain.”

Having seen how our hearts guide our speech, we would do well to guard our hearts and control our tongues. Proverbs 4:23 warns us to “Keep thy heart with all diligence, for out of it are the issues of life.”

We can sometimes put on a convincing show at church. We know the right things to say, the right way to pray, and can portray ourselves as the model church member. However, does your speech change when you are outside the walls of the church? How about when you are fighting rush hour traffic, and the car in front of you slams on its brakes, nearly causing an accident?

When we fail to control our tongue, this is an indication that we are deceiving ourselves. We should pray the prayer that David prayed in Psalm 19:14, “Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O LORD, my strength, and my redeemer.” Our speech should honor our Savior.

Conclusion – God Makes No Mistakes

These are just a few of the verses in the Bible that draw a connection between our tongue and our heart. I would encourage you to do a study of all the verses in the Bible that mention the tongue and the heart. There are several!

Our Creator is omniscient (which means “all-knowing”), and He knew exactly what He was doing when He designed mankind with this connection between the heart and the tongue. The world may not understand it, or even view it as “stupid”, but there is a divine wisdom to the design, and it has multiple applications, as we have seen.

The application for believers who recognize this truth is that we must make sure we have a pure heart. We should hide His words in our hearts to protect ourselves from the temptation to sin (Psalm 119:11). Our words should be acceptable in His sight (Psalm 19:14), and we should seek to edify one another with our words (Ephesians 4:29).

Take time today to praise God for His miraculous creation, the illustration He provides in the creation of our bodies, and use your tongue today to tell others about the Lord Jesus Christ.

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About David Pack

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