“Let
the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Thy
sight, O Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer” (v. 14). Many people, even Christians,
don’t particularly care what they say in public or to whom they say it. Some of
us care very much. We think that if we pass the public approval on what we say,
we’re ok.
David
wasn’t satisfied with that. He said, “Let the words of my mouth and the
meditation of my heart be acceptable in Your sight, O God.” When we ask
the Lord to make what we think about in our hearts and say with our mouths
acceptable in His sight, not just in other people’s sight, we don’t have
to worry about any great transgression.
We
can pass this to our children as well. We are used to laying out rules for them
to make their actions acceptable in our sight. Suppose we could teach our
children so that the meditation of their hearts would be acceptable in the
sight of God? If our children were like that, how many rules would we have to lay
down? Not many. Not many at all.
Here
is how you can teach your children to meditate on the Lord and have their
meditation be acceptable in His sight. First, keep your meditation
acceptable in God’s sight and the words of your mouth acceptable in His
sight. How do you speak to your children? Is that how you speak to everyone
else? The Scripture says, “Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks”
(Matt. 12:34). When I take care of the mediation of my heart, I have already
taken care of what I’m going to say. What you say is the result of what you’re
meditating on. If you are not mediating rightly, what you say will not be right
either in content or in manner. Your children will pick it up and meditate
right back to you that way.
James
3 says that out of the same mouth proceed blessing and cursing, and that should
not be. Ask God to make the meditation of your heart acceptable in His sight. That
is the solution for holy, godly contact. That is where to start. I start with your
heart, your motivation. Then you can go on to your children’s hearts, your
children’s motivations.
Go
back to dealing with secret sins. Go back to presumptuous sins. Go back to the
words of your mouth and the meditations of your heart. When you get those
things acceptable in God’s sight, you won’t have to worry about falling over
any cliffs.
It
is easy to fixate on big sins and let anything less than them pass for ok. You
are doing something little that is not right, and someone says, “What’s wrong
with that?” That’s what wrong with it—you saying, “What’s wrong with
it.” What’s wrong is wanting to say that anything less than a big sin is ok.
We
live as if sin was the same as crime. If it’s not violating the law, then it’s alright.
If it’s not literally violating the Ten Commandments, it’s ok. But Jesus
said, “Whoever looks at a woman to lust after her has committed
adultery” (Matt. 5:28). God is after the meditation of your heart. The person
who solves the problem there doesn’t have to worry about the act of adultery.
The person who solves the problem of hatred never has to worry about murder.
The person who solves the problem of coveting never has to worry about
stealing. Go after the basic things. Go after the heart sins underneath.
What
if you are already guilty of the basic things? God forgives those like He
forgives great transgressions. But you have to admit it first. You have to call
it sin. You may have a good reputation with your friends and family, but you
are miserable in your heart. If so, start asking God to search your heart.
Recently
I reread a letter I received in the 1970s from the wife of a navy captain of
the Naval Academy Class of ’53. Her husband had just told her that that as soon
as the seniors of the class of 1950 graduated at the end of his plebe year, the
plebes (the freshmen) went through all the seniors’ rooms to see if they had
left anything behind.
This
man was not a Christian. He was searching through the dorms, and he came to my
room. He pulled open the locker door, and on the inside panel was pasted Psalm
139:9: “If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of
the sea, even there Thy hand shall lead me, and Thy right hand shall hold me.” That
struck him. He became a Christian shortly thereafter, and twenty-six years
later, I found out that that verse of Scripture pasted up in my locker door had
helped bring him to the Lord.
Psalm
139 is the greatest cure there is for secret sins. It is the story of a man
trying to run away from God and not succeeding. Verse 23 says, “Search me, O
God, and know my heart. Try me and know my thoughts, and see if there be any
wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.” If you don’t know what
the problem is, ask God to search you. Then in prevention of future sin, ask Him
to cause the meditation of your heart to be acceptable in His sight.
Look
back at Psalm 19. David’s great desire and delight came from the Word of God.
The Word of God is light; the Word of God is a joy. If you do not know how to
meditate in an acceptable way, dwell in the Scriptures, and you will come to find
them like gold, like much fine gold. Your heart will change directly
proportional to how much time you spend in the Word of God.
(To be continued November 5…)
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