What is God impressing on your heart? What is said here about the skies showing brilliantly the glory of God, testifying to his being and his presence, is something I totally relate to. I love to look at the skies, especially when I'm praying. I just can't deny the reality of God when I look at them! But today I'm focusing in on this statement:
May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, O LORD, my Rock and my Redeemer. (v. 14)
That's more than a great memory verse! I think God is especially calling attention to how I need to guard my inner thought world--the meditations of my heart. I think we're all pretty aware of how we need to watch what we do and say. It's obvious how those things can get us in trouble! But where do those actions and words come from? They don't just come out of nowhere!
Every now and then someone does something that just seems so off the wall. A dedicated Christian husband and father happens to suddenly meet a woman at a coffee shop and jumps right into an affair. A teenager's behavior suddenly makes a major shift from good to bad. You see it and you wonder what in the world happened? How does someone who is going one direction suddenly change and start going the opposite direction with no warning?
Things like that happen because the person has been thinking thoughts for a long time that have led them to that moment. That Christian husband jumps into bed with the woman at the coffee shop because for years he's been mulling over all the things that he's dissatisfied about with his wife. And he's often been thinking about what it would be like to be with someone else. The thought of a chance meeting with someone new has excited his imagination for a long time. So when the temptation actually arises he has already set himself up to fall right into it.
And it's not just big moral failures that are tied to our thought world. It's everything. My feelings are so tied to my thoughts. Whatever I choose to meditate on will either give me positive feelings or negative ones. I'll either feel peace and joy or I'll be anxious or angry, depending on where my thoughts are. Depressing thoughts lead to depressed feelings. Faith-filled thoughts produce courage and hope. There's no debate over which I'd prefer!
Thoughts come and go--all kinds of thoughts--good and bad. But what is "the mediation of my heart"? What thoughts am I dwelling on? If the thoughts in my head were played out on a movie screen, what kind of movie would it be? Would I want to go see it? Would I want my family to? Would I recommend it to my friends? Because the striking truth is that God has seen the movie. He sees it every day! ("May the...mediations of my heart be pleasing in your sight...")
As much as is possible, by your grace, Lord I want to think thoughts that will lead me to the kind of life I'll be proud of and enjoy living. I want the thoughts I dwell on to be as pure as my actions. I realize how they shape me. I am going to make this my own prayer:
May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O LORD, my Rock and my Redeemer.
Please share the message God has spoken to your heart through this sacred text. After signing in (top, right corner of the page) you can comment below. If you don't want to sign in you can choose Anonymous from the list in the "Comment as" field. I'm wishing you some good, worthwhile thoughts today!
Life is full of ups and downs! Sometimes the only choice we have is what we will allow our minds to focus on.
ReplyDeleteSomeone just encouraged me this morning to focus on the blessings and not so much on the pain of life. I am blessed with salvation, wonderful people in my life, a healthy son when so many people are not able to have children, a job, an education, shelter, food and most importantly love- the love of my Savior and the people in my life. I will choose to focus on these things and not on the garbage that I really can't control anyway! God is always with me and nobody can take my salvation from me!
Michele