Psalm 19:14 - Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Your sight, O LORD, my Rock and my Redeemer.
The psalmist prays that his words and the silent meditation of his heart will be acceptable to God. What are his words? On what is he meditating? In Psalm 19, the psalmist glorifies God for three precious gifts: creation, the Law of God, and His forgiveness. He describes these gifts in his meditation of praise and he is not alone in offering praise to the Lord. Creation itself joins in proclaiming the majesty of its Creator: "The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims His handiwork" (Psalm 19:1). There are no words, no speech or voices in creation's praise, yet its message proclaims the glory of God, who created all things by His Word. It is that divine Word, the Law of the Lord, that is the next topic in the psalmist's meditations. It is as though he cannot find enough words to describe the beauty and wisdom of God's commands. The adjectives come tumbling out in his praise. The Law of the Lord is perfect, sure, right, pure, clean, true, righteous, more desirable than gold, and sweeter than honey (see Psalm 19:7-10).
The psalmist comments that there is great reward in keeping God's commands. But that observation leads to another topic for meditation, one that strikes close to home for all of us. Yes, there is great reward in keeping the commandments of God, but the psalmist knows that he does not obey those commands as he should. In repentant honesty we must admit that we do not keep the Lord's commands either. The Law of the Lord is perfect and pure and true, but in ways known to us and in ways unknown, we transgress His Law. In acknowledgement of his guilt, the psalmist's meditation turns to repentance. He pleads for forgiveness, even for those sins of which he is unaware: "Declare me innocent from hidden faults" (Psalm 19:12). That is our prayer, too. The psalmist goes on to ask that the Lord would keep him from "presumptuous sins." It is a petition that reminds us of the words Jesus taught us: "Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil" (Matthew 6:13).
The psalmist addresses his praise to "my Rock and my Redeemer." David's Redeemer, and ours, is his Descendant, Jesus Christ, who is called the Son of David. Jesus is the Word by whom and for whom all creation was made. He is the Word made flesh, who was born among us to take our sins onto Himself and deliver us from death. To Him we offer in prayer the words of this psalm, whether spoken or sung aloud or considered in the silent meditation of our hearts. We pray that our praise will be acceptable to Jesus, our Rock and our Redeemer.
WE PRAY: Lord Jesus, I offer to You my words of praise and the silent meditations of my heart. Amen.
This Daily Devotion was written by Dr. Carol Geisler.
Reflection Questions:
1. Are there people in your life from whom you gladly receive direction? Why do you trust them?
2. What do you think the psalmist meant by words and meditations that are acceptable to God?
3. How do you meditate on God's Word? Self-study? Group study?
Today's Bible Readings: Job 30-31 Matthew 13:31-58
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