While I was reading through a few of the Psalms trying to decide what to write on for this blog, I actually came across a passage at the end of Psalm 19. I mentioned part of Psalm 19 in a blog a couple of days ago; however, I completely neglected reading the end of the Psalm at the time.
Psalm 19:4 states: “Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O LORD, my rock and my redeemer.” What a powerful and thought-provoking verse! The verse hits on two different aspects of our being: our words and our thoughts. While these are different, they are connected, and both of these can all too easily become avenues of sin in our lives.
First, Christians must learn to control their thoughts which can be very difficult to do. I think one of the trickiest things about controlling one’s thoughts, is just that – they are your thoughts and no one else knows them, except for God. With other areas in our lives we are accountable to those around us, but not so with our thoughts. It is very important to realize that God sees and knows all, as Proverbs 15:3 states: “The eyes of the LORD are in every place, keeping watch on the evil and the good.” In Numbers 32:23 the Bible states: “ . . .be sure your sin will find you out.”
Secondly, Christians must learn to control their tongue, also a very difficult task. Almost an entire chapter of the book of James speaks of bridling the tongue (chapter 3 verses 2 through 14). The tongue is capable of so many different evils from gossip to slander to cruelty. Yet the same tongue is capable of so many different good things such as encouragement and kind words. Christians need to train themselves, beginning in their heart, to not allow evil things to come off their lips.
The verse in Psalm 19 reminds us to make our words and thoughts acceptable in the sight of God. Our love for the Lord should be motivation for us to control our thoughts and our words. Philippians 4:8 is an appropriate closing to this thought: “Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.”
See the related article: “Christian Speech.”