I finally made it to the book of PSALMS…yay! I really like Psalms, not only because they are easy to read, but also because many of them are quite beautifully written. In fact, many are songs or poems…almost like little love notes that people (like David) wrote for God. I love it. Anyways, today I was reading in Psalms 19, and this particular verse stuck out to me…
“May the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be pleasing in your sight, Oh Lord, my rock and my redeemer.” -Psalms 19:14
I know I’ve heard this verse before at some point, but as I was reading it really stuck out to me for some reason. Generally when a verse or passage intrigues me I jump down to the foot notes at the bottom of the page (I have an NIV Life Application Study Bible, so there are usually quite a few notes about different passages). Granted, not every verse has a foot note, but this one happened to have one. And it got me thinking.
“Would you change the way you live if you knew that every word and thought would be examined by God first?”
Wow. That’s heavy. It really got me thinking about what the things that I think in my heart, and whether or not I would really want God to hear everything that I think, say, and do…before I even do it. Now the fact of the matter is that God actually does know what we are thinking, what we are going to say before we say it, and what we are going to do before we do it. Makes you think huh? I guess I’ve always known this, but never really thought about it before.
It’s not that I constantly have horrible evil thoughts going on in my mind, and most of the time the things I say and do are kind. But no one is perfect, me especially, and we all think, say and do things that can be hurtful to others and to God. There is no way around this. We are human, and we live in a fallen world which is full of sin everywhere we look. I began to feel discouraged, until I realized that David (the author of this particular Psalm) is actually asking God for help. He is asking God to help him think, say and do things that are pleasing in the God’s sight. A feat David could not accomplish alone…he needed God’s help. As do we.
Do you feel like you think, say and do things that may not be pleasing in God’s sight? I know I do. Ask God to help you in this area, just as David did. Praying out portions of scripture can be a powerful tool in our daily lives, and Psalms 19:14 is a perfect example.
Lord, “May the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be pleasing in your sight, Oh Lord My rock and my redeemer.” Help me to think, say and do things that are honoring and uplifting to you. Amen.
Hope you guys are all having a fantastic week so far…God Bless!