May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing to you, O LORD, my rock and my redeemer.
David prayed earlier in Psalm 19 that the Lord would keep him from sinful deeds of all kinds. In our verse for today, he takes the issue deeper by asking that the Lord would also keep him from speaking words that are sinful. David has recognized that the things that we say are just as important as the deeds we do, and we need the help of the Lord to guard our mouths from sinful speech just as much as we need Him to guard our hands from sinful deeds.
David, furthermore, wants to take the issue deeper into his inner being. He is not just concerned about the quality of his words; he is also concerned about the quality of the very meditations, or thoughts, in his mind. David knew that since the heart and mind produce words and deeds, we would need the help of the Lord every bit as much in this area as well.
If our words and meditations are free from sin, then they will be pleasing to the Lord. The word translated as “pleasing” is borrowed from the language of the sacrificial system of the Old Testament. The animal sacrifices that were brought before the Lord were required to be without defect; so likewise, the words of our mouths and the meditations of our hearts should be without defect. The idea here is that everything we say and think is done before the Lord and should be pleasing to Him.
David’s prayer is directed to the Lord, his “rock and redeemer.” The Lord is the rock that we can depend upon to help with our words and meditations. Apart from the Lord, nothing we say or think can be pleasing to Him. The Lord is also our redeemer. He delivers us from the consequences of our sinful words and meditations, and frees us from the power they have over us.
The Lord wants us to be pleasing before Him. When Christ the Redeemer lives in the heart of we believers, we can glorify Him not only with the deeds we do, but also with the words we say and the thoughts we think.
Today, then, let us ask the Lord to cleanse us, inside and out.
