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Welcome to today’s Daily Scripture Reading and Meditation covering Psalm 19:14 wherein we have an example of what a desire for purity before God looks like.
Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O LORD, my rock and my redeemer.
For some time, this has been a favorite prayer of mine. It is one of those texts that seems to encompass all that we should want for ourselves in light of who God is. The first emphasis is on the purity of our words. They are to be ones that are acceptable to God, words that, as He would hear them, would be counted as good and right. The dangerous nature of the tongue is spoken of regularly in the Scriptures as it wields great power, often bringing tremendous harm to many. We’ve heard it said that one damaging word cannot be made OK with only a few good or encouraging ones following. How essential then that we would pray for God to take charge over the words of our mouth, that our language might be characterized by truth and continuous praise.
Going deeper then toward the core of one’s being, the psalmist asks that the innermost workings of his heart be to God’s liking. Just previous to this in the psalm, he expresses the desire for God to leave no rock unturned in a search for those sins that he might not even be aware he is committing! We get in this a wondrous picture of one who simply wants all of himself exposed and cleansed that there might be nothing in the way of his fellowship with the Lord. We all know the ways that the meditations of our hearts tend to work. Seeds of sinfulness begin there. Irritations in life of various kinds are mulled over in those quiet moments, and instead of thanking God for His grace in our lives for the working through of those things, we get bitter, angry, and just all tied up in general. As such feelings develop, they begin to grow into something like a dark cloud that blocks out the sun and steals the nourishment that we need from it. We must have them pulled out by the roots if we’re to start seeing things clearly again. But this is only the beginning. For there must be new thoughts and desires that replace the void that is created when harmful ones are removed. This is why Paul does not urge some type of a mystical emptiness of spirit to be close to God but instead says to the Philippians, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things (4:8).
Finally, the titles that the author uses to describe his Purifier reflect the respect, confidence, and hope that he has in Him: O LORD, my Rock, and my Redeemer. It is always a right view of God and a right view of self that gets us started on the right track to having our heart stayed on our Savior and our mouth uttering that which glorifies Him. But all our best efforts will always come up short if we do not place our hope in the One who can truly wash our hearts clean–the One who was the coming Redeemer this man of God knew. His name is Jesus, and He has made the way. Trust or renew your trust in Him this hour.
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