In our church men's group meeting last Thursday night we were discussing how we sometimes struggle with expressing our frustrations in ways that do not honor God. One of our Elders, JBob Dalton said Psalm 19:14 was a verse that had helped him a lot. He didn't quote the verse, just the reference so I had to look it up to see what it said.  Psalm 19:14 is part of a powerful prayer of David: 

"May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing to You, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer." 

In the previous verse, David prayed, asking God to keep him from "presumptuous sins," that is sins of pride and arrogance. Those are sins that don't often seem like to sin to us. Pride or arrogance are easy to see in other people, but hard to see in ourselves. But presumptuous sins are usually revealed by our words though. As Jesus says in Luke 6:45, "...for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks."

So in v.14 David isn't just asking for outward "religion," he's praying for a transformed heart that produces pleasing words. He recognizes God as his "rock"—his solid foundation  in a chaotic world. And David calls Him his "redeemer"—the One who buys him back, who sets him free, who makes him new.

It's a beautiful picture, isn't it? When we truly grasp that God is our strength and our rescuer, it changes everything. Our words become an overflow of a heart deeply rooted in Him. Our thoughts become more aligned with His truth and grace.

The word that came to mind when I read v.14 was "ALIGNMENT" and I understood the verse as David saying, "Let my words and my thoughts, align with what pleases You, God." I'm working on memorizing the verse this week, and let that be my prayer - that my words and thoughts will line up with God's will and what pleases Him.

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