This comes directly after verse 13 that says, “Keep me from deliberate sins…”
I find this fascinating of our dear King David.
He asks to have strength to be kept from a sinful lifestyle and further makes a plea for God to govern and sanctify his words and thoughts.
David shows here a deep understanding of what it means to get to the root of a problem. He understands that sin arises first in the heart. Sin unmanaged in the heart get inappropriately translated to the mouth and then ultimately is revealed in action.
Heart > Head > Mouth > Feet.
And it’s this repeated patterns that we see over and over again in our own lives if we’re being honest.
David shows here his great interest in not only the cleansing and pardoning of intentional sin, but also for the ones he had forgotten all about.
“May the words of my mouth AND the meditation of my heart be pleasing to You, God.” It’s the honest prayer from a sincere heart who is brave enough to allow God a closer examination and certain extermination.
The words that we grant permission to be spoken from our lips are more powerful than we could ever imagine. Scripture tells us that it’s, “the words you speak come from the heart—that’s what defiles you.” (Matt 15:18). They express what is truly going on inside. When we speak ill we’re communicating a sick heart. When we speak damage and destruction we’re demonstrating a wounded heart. When we speak hate and gossip we’re revealing a prideful self-promoting heart.
And David is teaching here a new way of praying for the protection over our thoughts and words that lead to an eventual destruction and subsequent spiritual death.
Think this through for a minute:
It’s the voluntary verses the involuntary.
The meditation of our mind is often involuntary.
These are the things that enter into our mind, planted by the enemy himself. Those things meant to steal, kill, and destroy. They get planted as a seed and only find growth when acted upon by the mouth.
The speech of our mouth is voluntary.
These are the things we authorize to be translated externally from an inward condition.
And so we must pray first for God to guard our thought life. That what is now an involuntary reflex would turn to a voluntary reaction. That I would gain control over the thoughts I allow to penetrate my mind. That God would literally place a barricade to the door of my mind, that no evil would be birthed there.
And we must pray that the words spoken from our mouths that are now voluntary intention will turn to become involuntary impulse. That because my heart is focused on the Father and because I am so fixed on good, healthy thoughts, what flows from my lips is now just commendable impulses that automatically bring glory to God in righteous speech.
While it’s wonderful to pray for sin to be removed from our life, we have to get to root of the issue and pray for a heart transformation instead.
May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing to You, God.
No comments:
Post a Comment