Gold Mine - Psalm 19:14
This morning I was going to read a few Psalms that involved praise and nature (I was sitting outside on our back porch), and then jump back into my study of the Feeding of the Five Thousand. Weeeeeeell, let's just say I figured out pretty quickly you can't just read a few Psalms, and then move on, at least, not with the Psalm I read.
Psalm 19 is a beautiful Psalm, and is well known by it's first line, "The heavens declare the glory of God…" and so forth. The last verse is also quite memorable, but I didn't realize it was in the same Psalm…
Psalm 19:14-- "May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, O Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer."
That verse really stuck with me, and I thought, "Okay, now I can't go on without a bit of further study here." But what about this verse should I study, I thought, for there are a few different key words--words, mouth, meditation, heart, pleasing, Rock, Redeemer.
I ended up deciding to focus on "mouth" and "heart". The psalmist wants his mouth and his heart to be pleasing to God, but how? Turns out, you don't have to go any farther than the book of Psalms to find the answers! This brief study of mine is in no way exhaustive, by the way. I could've gone on for another hour at least, but out of all the verses in Psalms that talk about the mouth and the heart, these were the few I looked at.
Mouth
1) Kept sin from his mouth. Psalm 17:3, "I have resolved that my mouth will not sin."
- This could be a whole study on it's own, but there are some clear sins of the mouth--gossip, idle talk, slander, course joking, false testimony, lying, cursing a father or mother, etc.
2) Spoke what is wise and just. Psalm 37:30, "The mouth of the righteous man utters wisdom, and his tongue speaks what is just."
- Again, this could be a study of it's own. Check out the Proverbs for a more extensive look at this one.
3) Filled mouth with praise. Psalm 71:8, "My mouth is filled with your praise, declaring your splendor all day long."
- Whenever wrong, harmful thoughts begin brewing in your mind, and stress starts pounding on your door, declare His splendor and watch your rain cloud disappear!
4) Asked the Lord for help. Psalm 141, "Set a guard over my mouth, O Lord; keep watch over the door of my lips."
- He is ready and willing to help us guard what comes out of mouth, and then change us from the inside out, but that's not going to happen unless we ask Him!
Heart
1) Filled heart with praise. "I will praise you, O Lord, with all my heart; I will tell of all your wonders."
- Similar stuff with #3 above--continually keep praise of the Lord in your heart, and how will there be room for anything else?
2) Set the Lord before him. Psalm 16:7-9, "I will praise the Lord, who counsels me; even at night my heart instructs me. I have set the Lord always before me. Because he is at my right hand, I will not be shaken. Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices; my body also will rest secure,"
- Setting the Lord before us not only brings gladness to our hearts, but also rejoicing to our tongues, and rest to our bodies! What exactly does it mean to set the Lord before us? Again, that could be a whole other study, but I believe it involves making God the only thing we rely on in this life.
3) Not lift up his soul to an idol. Psalm 24:3-4, "Who may ascend the hill of the Lord? Who may stand in his holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not lift up his soul to an idol or swear by what is false."
- An idol is anything that you set in your heart on the same level as God, or even a level above him. These things may not necessarily be bad, either. There's a wrong way and a right way to look at these things. Basically, our heart should be a heart of thankfulness to God for these good things, and whenever thoughts of the idol begin to push their way into our heart, we can say, "God made that."
4) Asked the Lord for an examination. Psalm 26:2-3, "Test me, O Lord, and try me, examine my heart and my mind; for your love is ever before me, and I walk continually in your truth."
- Again, God is ready and willing to show us where we fail, and to help us know how to overcome, but unless we ask Him for help, it probably won't just happen!
5) Delight in God. Psalm 37:4, "Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart."
- Delight in Him as a best friend, a father, a lover, a Savior, the only Good Master--get to know Him through study of His love letter, and through talking with him in prayer. Then the desires of your heart will be fulfilled, because your desires are His desires!
~~~
Today I discovered that the book of Psalms is a gold mine of knowledge to be dug into! I hope you were blessed, and are inspired to do some study of your own.
Change the world!!
In Christ,
Ellie
Psalm 19 is a beautiful Psalm, and is well known by it's first line, "The heavens declare the glory of God…" and so forth. The last verse is also quite memorable, but I didn't realize it was in the same Psalm…
Psalm 19:14-- "May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, O Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer."
That verse really stuck with me, and I thought, "Okay, now I can't go on without a bit of further study here." But what about this verse should I study, I thought, for there are a few different key words--words, mouth, meditation, heart, pleasing, Rock, Redeemer.
I ended up deciding to focus on "mouth" and "heart". The psalmist wants his mouth and his heart to be pleasing to God, but how? Turns out, you don't have to go any farther than the book of Psalms to find the answers! This brief study of mine is in no way exhaustive, by the way. I could've gone on for another hour at least, but out of all the verses in Psalms that talk about the mouth and the heart, these were the few I looked at.
Mouth
1) Kept sin from his mouth. Psalm 17:3, "I have resolved that my mouth will not sin."
- This could be a whole study on it's own, but there are some clear sins of the mouth--gossip, idle talk, slander, course joking, false testimony, lying, cursing a father or mother, etc.
2) Spoke what is wise and just. Psalm 37:30, "The mouth of the righteous man utters wisdom, and his tongue speaks what is just."
- Again, this could be a study of it's own. Check out the Proverbs for a more extensive look at this one.
3) Filled mouth with praise. Psalm 71:8, "My mouth is filled with your praise, declaring your splendor all day long."
- Whenever wrong, harmful thoughts begin brewing in your mind, and stress starts pounding on your door, declare His splendor and watch your rain cloud disappear!
4) Asked the Lord for help. Psalm 141, "Set a guard over my mouth, O Lord; keep watch over the door of my lips."
- He is ready and willing to help us guard what comes out of mouth, and then change us from the inside out, but that's not going to happen unless we ask Him!
Heart
1) Filled heart with praise. "I will praise you, O Lord, with all my heart; I will tell of all your wonders."
- Similar stuff with #3 above--continually keep praise of the Lord in your heart, and how will there be room for anything else?
2) Set the Lord before him. Psalm 16:7-9, "I will praise the Lord, who counsels me; even at night my heart instructs me. I have set the Lord always before me. Because he is at my right hand, I will not be shaken. Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices; my body also will rest secure,"
- Setting the Lord before us not only brings gladness to our hearts, but also rejoicing to our tongues, and rest to our bodies! What exactly does it mean to set the Lord before us? Again, that could be a whole other study, but I believe it involves making God the only thing we rely on in this life.
3) Not lift up his soul to an idol. Psalm 24:3-4, "Who may ascend the hill of the Lord? Who may stand in his holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not lift up his soul to an idol or swear by what is false."
- An idol is anything that you set in your heart on the same level as God, or even a level above him. These things may not necessarily be bad, either. There's a wrong way and a right way to look at these things. Basically, our heart should be a heart of thankfulness to God for these good things, and whenever thoughts of the idol begin to push their way into our heart, we can say, "God made that."
4) Asked the Lord for an examination. Psalm 26:2-3, "Test me, O Lord, and try me, examine my heart and my mind; for your love is ever before me, and I walk continually in your truth."
- Again, God is ready and willing to show us where we fail, and to help us know how to overcome, but unless we ask Him for help, it probably won't just happen!
5) Delight in God. Psalm 37:4, "Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart."
- Delight in Him as a best friend, a father, a lover, a Savior, the only Good Master--get to know Him through study of His love letter, and through talking with him in prayer. Then the desires of your heart will be fulfilled, because your desires are His desires!
~~~
Today I discovered that the book of Psalms is a gold mine of knowledge to be dug into! I hope you were blessed, and are inspired to do some study of your own.
Change the world!!
In Christ,
Ellie
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