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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Worry and Words

Anxiety in the heart of man causes depression, But a good word makes it glad  Prov 12:25 (NKJV)

I love the language of the Old Testament; Hebrew is very expressive. For example the word translated “anxiety” in the verse above literally means “heaviness”. It describes a burden or weight that is being carried around. Isn’t that what worry really is – an emotional weight or heaviness? And where does it lead? The Hebrew word translated “depression” means to “stoop” or to “be pressed down.” Worry or anxiety (fear) drags a person down – causes them to be depressed. We all know people who seem to have this constant weight on their shoulders because of the anxiety in their hearts. Writer Henry David Thoreau said, “Most men lead lives of quiet desperation…”

But the writer of Proverbs also offers hope for those under the weight of worry – “A good word makes it glad.” The word translated “good” is used 559 times in the Old Testament and is translated in a variety of ways: precious, better, pleasant, prosperity, beautiful, favor, wealth… (you get the picture!). And the word translated “glad” means “to rejoice” or “be cheerful.”

When you put it all together, “Worry brings people down, but a good (pleasant, beautiful, etc…) word lifts them up.” You and I have the potential power to change another person’s day (or life) with a good words. What you say makes a difference.

Why not start looking for those opportunities to make a difference today? Start with those closest to you – family, co-workers, other students. The field is wide open, make the most of it today.

Wednesday Words

"Trust in the Lord with all your heart, lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will direct your paths." Proverbs 3:5-6

For the past few Wednesday nights at Grace Point Talbott, we have been studying this one passage of Scripture under the title, "What to do when you don't know what to do." All of us experience seasons in life when it feels like the rug has been pulled out from under us, or as a friend recently described an experience in their family - an earthquake has happened. The "ground" moved and shook up our lives.

What do you do when those experiences happen? You wonder what God is doing in/through your circumstances, or if He is even involved in the circumstances; is He even paying attention to what is going on in your life. And if He is, why isn't He doing something about the situation? And what does He want me to do about the situation - do I try to fix it, do I ride it out, or do I bail out and go in a different direction myself? I realize these are pretty vague and broad statements, but I trust you get the picture, there are seasons in life when it is hard to 'feel" God's presence, or see how He is working, or know what He wants us to do. So what do you do when you don't know what to do?

The above passage gives us three important statements:
1. Trust in the Lord with all your heart - when you don't know what to do, trust that God is doing something both in you and in your circumstances. As the preacher C.H. Spurgeon said, "God is too good to be unkind and He is too wise to be mistaken. And when we cannot trace His hand, we must trust His heart." 

2. Lean not on your own understanding. Our human nature is such that if we don't see God doing something about our situation, He must want us to figure it out ourselves. More often than not, this is a mistake. Our "understanding" is limited and finite, and when we try to fix it ourselves we end up making things worse (think Abraham, Sarah, Hagar and Ishmael, Genesis 16-17). We are going to lean on something, but let us lean on the Lord and His promises rather than our own limited mental and physical abilities.

3. Tonight we are going to look at the last statement in that passage: "In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will direct your paths." We are going to unpack this verse and look at our "ways", what it means to "acknowledge Him" and what "direct your paths" really looks like.

Join us tonight at 7pm at Grace Point Talbott, or watch my Facebook page around 7:15 and we will be going live.

See you tonight.