Words, mediations - pleasing in Your sight.

Psalms 19:14 - May these words of my mouth and this meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer.

Most of the prayers we make are often the “bless me” ones and it includes and entourage people we are accustomed to or the basic necessities in life. 

But the prayer that we read above, can only be made by a person who is really after the heart of God. Many times I have read this verse, prayed and sung it too but never really understood the significance of this prayer. This is because if one is honest with oneself, we will find that in our lives our words and our thoughts always fall short of God’s standard. That is why this a often a dangerous prayer to make.

While David puts the mouth and heart in sequence, Jesus revers the order when He said in 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. (KJV). The heart is the source, what come from the mouth is only the reflection of the deep rooted condition of the heart.

Jeremiah the prophet described the human heart in Jerimiah 29:7 - The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?

And Jesus further elaborated the consequences of the deceitfulness of the human heart in no uncertain terms. Luke 7:21-23 -   For it is from within, out of a person’s heart, that evil thoughts come—sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly. All these evils come from inside and defile a person.” 

Only Jesus gives the true description of the human heart, No other worldview makes such a claim. And if we do a true reflection of the recesses of our own heart, we would certainly affairm the credibility the Jesus’ statement.

But the good news is, when we come the disciples of Jesus, the Word of God tells us that God gives us a new heart. The following verses reinforces this truth:

  • Ezekiel 36:26 - describes the new covenant like this: “I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.”
  • Romans 6:17 - “Thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed.”
  • John 7:38 - Jesus says, “Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’” Oh, amazing. Oh, I want to be like that, right? I just want to have a kind of new heart that doesn’t just enjoy water — it flows to other people. 

The reality is that while we now live the life in the Spirit, because we are still in this flesh, the old nature always resurfaces and shows its true colours, DAILY. Paul discusses it’s the reality of this conflict in Romans Ch 7.

That is why, while understanding the tussles of this earthly journey and wanting to be a man after God’s heart, David makes this daring and dangerous prayer, “May these words of my mouth and this meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight”. And if we really mean this prayer, the Holy Spirit will always show us the deceptions within the innermost part of our beings, jealousy, anger, bitterness, hatred and the like. 

But the importance of David’s prayer is that He is asking God to help him to align his heart and mouth to produce that which pleases God.

Praise God for every believer, we have the indwelling of the Holy Spirit to help us just do that. Romans 8:26 - And the Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness. The more we are connected with the Holy Spirit the more the nature of Christ will be moulded in our innermost being producing the opposite of the works of the flesh. When we allow the “new heart” to be germinated by the power and the presence of the Holy Spirit, the fruit produced will be  love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control. 

Dare to make and mean this prayer and when connected with  the Holy Spirt, our words and meditations will be acceptable in His sight.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

"It is finished" - Jesus Christ

Image
John 19:30 - When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished: and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost. It's Good Friday again. The world pauses and recollects the events that changed the course of history. For me it was a time to reflect on the finished work of our Lord on the cross. He paid the price for my redemption. But it dawned on me that Jesus, himself, had a task to do while on this earth, He was on a mission. There was a time frame. There was a script to follow. In military terms , there was an objective he had to capture. Anything short would have been a disaster. But towards the end, in spite of the agony at Gethsemane, the unfair trail, humiliating and torturous journey via Dalarosa, Jesus cried, "It is finished". What an achievement. What a fitting eulogy.  Jesus was faithful to His mission - Hebrew 3:2 Jesus was focused on His mission - Luke 9:51 Jesus finished His mission - John 19:30  Judas towards th
Read more

What a trip to Nepal

Image
I am sitting at the airport restaurant in Kathmandu, checked in and waiting for my departure to New Delhi and from there, onward to Singapore.  Just sipping and enjoying the Americano coffee and a slice of cheese cake as I reminiscent my last nine days in Nepal. It has been a incredibly tough trip but one filled with joy, great satisfaction and challenges. Tough because of the bad roads, tracks and mountain trekking that really tested my endurance and my back was sore.  Couple of knocks on the head as the vehicle danced to the tune of the undulating terrain. Days when I had terrible diarrhoea, running from one mountain toilet to another. Thank God I had Dr Mike Ong on this trip who is a medical doctor from Singapore, who attended to my condition. Times when we had to sleep on the cold floor with thin sheets of cloth, with rodents in the vicinity. Temperatures dropped to a low of 10-12 degrees centigrde in the nights. Eating the food offered by the villagers as we were up in the mounta
Read more

Devotion - Psalms 44: 6-7 - Its God who gives the victory

Image
Psalms 44:6-7 - I put no trust in my bow, my sword does not bring me victory; but you give us victory over our enemies, you put our adversaries to shame. Any soldier will know that the basic weapon of warfare, in those days, were the bow and sword. Without which no soldier will not venture into the battle field. Even the famed Goliath was geared in full battle order when he faced David with the stones and the sling. Isn't it a paradox then that David, one of the finest soldiers Israel had ever produced, proclaims that its not the bow and the sword that gives the victory. Its is the Lord, Jehovah, that gives the victory. I don't think David is trying to say that we should not prepare ourselves for warfare. His concern is that we recognize that ultimately its the Lord that gives the victory. A few things we need to remember: Human efforts are necessary in the God-man partnership Human efforts alone does not guarantee God intended results Recognize that its God that always gives u
Read more