What are the words of your mouth and the meditations of your heart?

Psalm 19:14 (NASB)

May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, O Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer. 

In my early Christian years---I was in my early 30s---I was very impressionable about observing actions and attitudes of mature Christians.  One of my pastors always prayed before starting his sermon and the last words he said in closing this prayer was quoting Psalm 19:14.  Whenever I have preached, emulated this former pastor, I too close my pre-sermon prayer with these words. 

The psalmist (King David) made two requests and praised God with two descriptions.  His requests were that his words and his thoughts be acceptable to God.  Think about it---God knows every word you utter and every thought you think.  Finite as you are, you cannot comprehend, fathom, or explain this, but it is true because the Bible affirms again and again that God knows your words (Matthew 12:36) and heart (I Samuel 16:7).

God as your Rock means that He protects you.  The translation of the Hebrew word for Rock means “rocky cliff” or “sheltering rock”.  God is also your Redeemer, also meaning “protector” as well as someone who redeems you from bondage and death.  You are protected from the bondage of sin and you are saved from the penalty of sin, that penalty being eternal death, eternal separation from God.

What words and meditations do you think are pleasing to the Lord?  And, conversely, what words and meditations do you think do not please Him?  Speaking the truth pleases the Lord while lying displeases Him (e.g. Eph 4:25).  Words that uplift/encourage others pleases the Lord while unwholesome words (e.g. cursing, name-calling) displeases Him (Eph 4:29).  With respect to meditations, Philippians 4:8 quickly comes to mind about thoughts that please the Lord.  Meditating on His Word definitely pleases Him (Joshua 1:8, Psalm 1:2). Meditating on thoughts that are evil, of course, will displease God.  Jesus said in Matt 15:19 that evil thoughts come from the heart (as well as words that slander or give false testimony).  What also displeases the Lord are thoughts and words of self-pity, complaining, anger, perversity, envy, anything that demonstrates excess/unhealthy focus on your own selfish desires and ways rather than focus on God and others.

H. Norman Wright (“The Perfect Catch”, 2000) wrote about an old legend—the three men and their sacks.  Each man had a sack tied in front of his neck and the other tied on his back.  The back sack of the first man contained all the good things friends and family had done for him, but now hidden from view.  His front sack had all the bad things that had happened to him.  Often he would open the front sack, review the bad things, and because he stopped so much to concentrate on the bad of his life, he really didn’t make much progress with his life.  The second man had his front sack filled with good things he had done.  He liked to take them out and show them off to other people.  The sack in the back contained all his mistakes in life and that sack was heavy.  They slowed him down because he never emptied that sack.  The third man also had his front sack filled with good things others had done for him, all his blessings, all his good experiences, and he called that sack “the sails of his ship”.  The back sack---it was empty.  Why?  Because he cut a big hole in its bottom.  In that sack he would put all the bad things that he ever thought about himself and his life and all the bad things that happened.  Yet they went in one end and came out the other so he was never carrying around extra weight and his life flourished.

What are you carrying in your sacks?  What are your blessings and burdens?  What are you doing with them?  What are you saying about them?  What are you thinking about them?  What are the words of your mouth and the mediations of your heart?  Do you consider them acceptable and pleasing to God?