Words, Hearts, and the Glory of God
If you are a regular Bible reader, you probably have certain verses that you have underlined, highlighted, or memorized because these verses have at one time or another brought you strength or encouragement. And there are some passages that you have heard a pastor or teacher quote often in sermons, weddings, and in celebrations of life or graveside services. When we hear these words, we often have an emotional connection with the one speaking and hopefully with God.
Psalm 19:14 is one of those passages for me. I have heard many pastors pray this verse from the pulpit. For some 15 years I heard my good friend and pastor, Jim Donovan, pray this verse as he stepped behind the pulpit to deliver his weekly sermon at the church I attended. While I have never asked him why he prayed this psalm before he shared his thoughts, I knew him well enough to know why; he wanted God’s word to come from him and to the congregation and not simply his own opinions and thoughts.
“Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.”
Some may think this verse is especially for teachers and preachers of scripture. After all, there is a clear warning in the book of James about being especially careful about representing God by teaching his word:
“Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness.”
Psalm 19:14 is a good prayer of protection for those who will be held accountable for what they say about God’s word. But I don’t think that David had just a priest or pastor in mind when he wrote Psalm 19. It is a psalm for all of us, and the closing verse might be a prayer we should pray every day before we interact with another person.
I wonder how our interactions at home, at work, in our community, and on social media would be different if every day, before we spoke or engaged with another person, we prayed:
“Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.”
When you read the nineteenth psalm, you see that David began his thoughts with a proclamation that all of creation declares God’s glory and proclaims his handiwork. The psalmist begins where God began: with the beautiful and wonderful glory of creation, where day after day God declared that his creation was good. It is hard to walk outside in the daylight or the moonlight and think that any or all of what we see was an accident. The heavens do declare the glory of God.
David continued as he spoke of the marvelous gift of God’s word. As we read this section of the psalm, we are reminded of the simple and powerful testimony of God’s word. When we read the scriptures, we discover that scripture teaches us, corrects us, and grants us wisdom. God’s word is to be prized as we would prize our most valuable treasures.
As David concludes this psalm, we return to this wonderful prayer. Knowing that God has shown us his glory, provided us with a beautiful world where we live, and provided us with his word, we quickly realize our shortcomings and failures and seek his cleansing and correction. And our desire to live in right relationship with God and with each other stirs our hearts to pray: “Let the words of my heart and the meditations of my heart be acceptable in your sight, Oh Lord, my rock and my redeemer.”
C.S. Lewis said of this psalm that it is the greatest poem in the Psalter and one of the greatest lyrics in the world. Psalm 19 is powerful and perfectly suited to center our thoughts and prepare our souls to engage in and with the people God puts in our paths today.
One more time:
“Let the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.” Amen.
Your Time with God’s Word
Psalm 19:1-14; James 3:1 ESV
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