Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord, my strength and my Redeemer. —Psalm 19:14
I mentioned the phrase kinsman-redeemer yesterday, and in today’s verse David mentions the Lord as our Redeemer. The word’s principal meaning is “the defender of family rights.” The Lord is our strength and defender of family rights, and David prayed that his words would be “delightful” to the Lord (that is what the word acceptable means here in the Hebrew). The implication is that the words and meditations of our hearts should be filled with gratefulness, which is delightful to the Lord.
It is easy to let a day pass with neither a generic thanks to the Lord nor any thanks at all. Sometimes it seems as though our hearts and mouths are filled only with our needs and what we want from the Lord. This is not generally an act of a malicious heart and mind, but the end result of a rushed and complicated life. Phrases like “stop and smell the roses” are social indicators recognizing that we are indeed a busy people.
To have a delightful flow of words and heart meditations to the Lord, therefore, will require a conscious decision. At the time of a great victory or in the supply of supernatural provision, praise easily flows from our lips for what God has done. But for the majority of our days, life marches on, and nothing other than the normal day-to-day routine faces us. What happens then? That too is the time to offer delightful words and meditations to the Lord. Take time today to tell the Lord how grateful you are for your salvation. Look back on your walk with Him, and thank Him for all the times you failed Him but He did not fail you. Look back on all the times when you did not fail Him and He used you, and thank Him for that. Give thanks to the Lord with a grateful heart today. Start with the fact that He is your Redeemer, and then take it from there. Name specific instances of His faithfulness in your life, and you will quickly discover your prayer time has become a delight to both Him and you!
Excerpt from “Body Builders” now available on Amazon.
