Mensa Otabil - Responding to God's Word
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One of the reasons why I like Psalm 19 so much is the structure and progression of the psalm. It starts with a general revelation of God: the heavens declare the glory of God. Then it moves to special revelation of God: the law of the Lord, the word of God. Finally, it tells us our attitude towards the word of God. There are three systems in the psalm, and it concludes with how we respond to the word of God after we’ve seen and heard all of this.
How do we respond to God? Verse 14 states, «Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord, my strength and Redeemer.» This is how Psalm 19 ends; it concludes with a yearning and a desire to make the word of God real in our lives. The psalmist is saying, «I don’t just want to observe and hear the word of God; I want it to be part of my life. I want it to be integrated into my life.»
So how does that become part of our lives? Through the meditations of our heart. The word of God must form the basis of our thinking, the basis of our meditation in our quiet moments. It must occupy our minds. You know, the thing you think about most in your quiet moments is what you are meditating on. For some, it’s about money; for others, education, marriage, or all kinds of things. In your quiet moment, you find these thoughts circulating in your mind, and those thoughts reveal your priorities and what is driving your life. The psalmist says, «I want God’s word to be the meditation of my heart.» When I’m lying down quietly, that’s what I want to think about. Even when I’m absent-minded, I want my thoughts to revolve around the word of the Lord. It has to be the meditation of my heart and what I actively think about. That’s what I talk about; that is what goes through all my being.
He says that’s how we make the word of God practical; it has to be the meditation of our heart, and then it has to be the words of our mouth. We think it, we speak it, and we have to express the word of God. So when I’m in a situation, the way I talk about it must reflect my knowledge of God’s word, which I’ve meditated on and am now speaking about. He says, «Let the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be acceptable to You.» In other words, I want my thoughts and my words to align with Your word. So when I speak, they are consistent with God’s thoughts. That’s how God thinks about it, and that’s how I think about it too. What God says is what I say as well. The words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart are all in agreement with God, and that’s where God wants us to be.
We don’t just read His word; it has to shape our thinking and our speaking. Then He says that when this is done, we get to know God as our strength and our Redeemer. God becomes our strength, meaning we build confidence in Him, and He’s the one who helps us out of our troublesome spots. As our Redeemer, He’s our restorer and the one who gives us victory in life. Therefore, you shouldn’t wait until you get into trouble before you start looking for God-reading a passage here, reading a Bible there. No, you must form a habit of it. It has to be your meditation; it has to be your words; it has to align with God’s word. When you are in trouble, He is your Redeemer and your strength.
«Let the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be acceptable to You, O Lord, my strength and Redeemer.» Let’s pray. Say with me: Heavenly Father, I receive Your word into my heart. With my mouth, I declare Your redemption over my life. In Jesus' name, amen and amen.