May it please God to bless us
together this evening as we meditate in his word. Well, this evening
we'll read the prayer of David in the last verse of the 19th
Psalm. Psalm 19 and reading verse 14. Let the words of my mouth and
the meditation of my heart be acceptable In thy sight, O Lord,
my strength and my Redeemer. This is a wonderful prayer of
David and clearly it was the desire of his heart and it'll
be a great blessing if as we read a word like this tonight
we can concur and agree that it is also the desires of our
soul and it's very direct and very
simple but very important he comes and he tells us he wants
the words of his mouth he wants the meditation of his heart to
be acceptable in thy sight O Lord and then He tells us that this
is the Lord who is His strength His spiritual strength, His natural
strength and also His great and glorious Redeemer well these
words as they come from the Word of God may they indeed speak
to our heart and may it be the prayer of our heart that such
words may be the real desire that come from us. Let the words
of my mouth be acceptable in thy sight. That means, of course,
every word, doesn't it? Often we fail in such a situation. Often we come short before our
God. And yet here was the desire of
a man of God. the man of God who clearly realised
the imperfections in the words which he'd spoken sometimes and
that's why he prays that they would be acceptable in the sight
of God it would be a great mercy won't
it if these words were before our eyes at all times I'm sure
it would influence us greatly and yet you see we find ourselves
so often sidetracked left to our own self and we find the
devil comes and gains control and that makes us mourn and that
makes us sad and it makes us weep over those things which
have been said wrongly and not in accordance with the goodwill
of God those things which emanated from our evil heart and we need
to be conscious the devil is always at our elbow trying to
influence us with wrong words and how we need to be guarded
against it so that we don't we are not found left to our own
selves because we find that sin is there and how easy it is to
say things which are unadvisable things which don't bring honour
and glory to God in actual fact those things which don't bring
any good anyway all they do is to satisfy the devil so here
we have this prayer let the words of my mouth and We know that
when we utter words, they have been uttered. You can't drag
them back. Doesn't matter how sorry you
may feel for them, how sad you may feel about them, you can't
take them back. Indeed, James tells us the tongue
is only a little member of how much evil does it bring forth. you and I might think upon it
in our lives the words of our mouth are they mostly good or
are they mostly bad well the Lord knows precisely what they
are but this prayer was obviously a very keen desire for David
a very great desire that he might be able to speak those things
which were indeed acceptable unto His God. We read together
that 66th Psalm, because towards the end of that chapter, the
17th verse, we read, I cried unto Him with my mouth, praying
to God. and he was extolled with my tongue
and that would be a great blessing, wouldn't it? if in our words
we are extolling the Lord we're not following Satan's plan we're
not turned aside by his direction but that we are concerned and
blessed with such a desire that the words of our mouth might
indeed extol the Lord and he says then he goes on if I regard
iniquity in my heart the Lord will not hear me well the heart
of course is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked
who can know it? the Lord does direct us sometimes
have a look into our heart and we are perhaps we're shattered
at the things which we see there the things which we observe there
and to read such a word as this the Lord will not hear me perhaps
we shouldn't be surprised of such a statement and yet David
or Lisa the psalmist here It appears it is, David, but nonetheless
the psalmist is able to say, but verily God hath heard me. Isn't that wonderful? To think
even if we regard iniquity in our heart, will the Lord hear
us? He says, God hath heard me. He hath attended to the voice
of my prayer. And you know if that is so, the
result is, as the psalmist says, Blessed be God. We bless God
who has not turned away our prayer, nor his mercy from us. That which
we deserve, that which we richly deserved, and yet we see the
wonderful mercy and favour of God. So let the words of my mouth
be acceptable in thy sight, O Lord. I dare say we don't pray this
prayer as often as we should it's a good prayer isn't it really
to start the day every day that the words that we speak might
be acceptable to our God and you know if they are what will
they be? they'll be words of thanksgiving
they'll be words of praise There'll be words acknowledging the Lord's
goodness and favour toward us. There'll be a confession of our
sin. There'll be a bowing down before
Almighty God. You see, these are the words
which are acceptable to the Lord God. Those things which bring
us low and raise up the Lord Jesus Christ. what a mercy if
we have then that concern and that desire that we might live
more unto the Lord and not to be left to ourselves how easily
we're left to ourselves how easily we speak things which are not
convenient we speak things which are not God-honouring how many
words we speak during the day Every day, which are not God-honouring. Well, here was the prayer of
David. Know that it might be all of
our prayers. Let the words of my mouth be
acceptable in thy sight, O Lord. Because the Lord knows every
word which goes out of our mouth. And are those words acceptable
Or are they not? Well, may we pray earnestly that
they might be acceptable to our God. Because if they are, there'll
be good words. And there'll be words which honour
and glorify our God. They won't please the devil.
The devil will be very annoyed. And he'll try to attack us more
and more. And we'll need much grace to turn away from those
words which He would put into our mouth you see the devil is
always looking for an opportunity to make us say those things which
are not convenient say those things in non-accordance with
the will of Almighty God and so we have such a statement as
that well then we come on to this other statement he says
let the meditation of my heart be acceptable now this of course
goes much deeper because no one knows what the meditation of
our heart is except God God knows what the meditation is of our
heart every moment every day of our life God knows what our
heart meditates upon and I'm sure we can't say well of course
my heart is always meditating on things which are acceptable
in the sight of God how often we have to confess perhaps in
the cry out can ever God dwell here in such a heart as mine
a heart which is not pure a heart which is sinful a heart which
is influenced so often by the devil who of course knows my
weakness and knows your weakness probably very different but he
knows all about us and he knows how to come into our hearts and
direct us not to God but away from God and so such meditations
are not acceptable what a blessing if we have this constant prayer
let the meditation of my heart be acceptable in thy sight O
Lord David in another psalm he tells us some wonderful words
and this is what he says In the 45th Psalm he tells us this,
My heart, listen to what he says, My heart is indicting a good
matter. I speak of the things which I
have made, touching the King. My tongue is the pen of a ready
writer. They are fairer than the children
of men. Grace is poured into thy lips. Therefore God hath
blessed thee forever. Well, clearly the psalmist is
here speaking about the Saviour but also speaking about Himself
He's able to tell us these words and as I sometimes say it's a
blessing to know that the psalmist does speak that which is his
own personal experience and he is truthful in the things which
he says and therefore although we may often have to mourn that
those things which are in our heart are indeed not those things
which are truly God honouring our meditation is not acceptable
yet to realise there are those times and we want to know those
times we want to rejoice in those times when our heart is indicting
a good matter thinking about the things of God thinking about
the condition of our soul, thinking about what the Lord Jesus Christ
has done to redeem our soul, thinking about what the future
holds, the eternal blessing for the Church of God to be found
in glory. My heart says the psalmist, well
may you and I be able to say it'll only be by the grace of
God, it won't be because of what we are able to do or able to
think it to be because of His grace which is wonderful as John
Newton said, amazing grace that enables us to be found here indicting
a good matter and you see if we are thinking of these good
things concerning our Saviour then what will occur as he says
here, I speak of the things which I have made touching the King
what a good result you see the relevance of these words indeed
the importance of these words the significance of these words
and so he says let the meditation of my heart be acceptable in
thy sight as I said it's only that which God sees no one else
sees it and therefore it's a meditation which God alone is aware of and
he says in the 5th Psalm again David speaking the first verse
give ear to my words O Lord consider my meditation surely therefore
he is not in a bad place he's here before his God Think of
David so many years ago when he, we're told, David came and
sat before the Lord. Yes, he came before his God. What a mercy that is if you and
I come there. And so he says, give ear to my
words, O Lord, consider my meditation. Hearken unto the voice of my
cry, my King and my God, for unto Thee will I pray. no one else to pray to no one
else to come to no one else to praise what a thankful thing
it is if the Holy Spirit comes and directs us to have these
good meditations which are acceptable in Thy sight O Lord and we should
earnestly pray for it David prayed for it and you know when the
Lord does bring these times into our hearts we're thankful surely
aren't we of the goodness of God if the Spirit's working in
our hearts we don't want to have evil meditations wicked meditations
meditations of sinful things we want the Holy Spirit to come
and to grant us those meditations which are acceptable in the sight
of God in thy sight O Lord and what a blessing that is and how
comforting it is and what an evidence it is of the Lord's
mercy and favour toward us that he isn't leaving us to ourselves
but in love to our souls he is showing his kindness he is revealing
his mercy and he is putting into our hearts those profitable and
blessed meditations of Him. Our meditation of Him then will
be sweet, won't it? What a good path that is, to
be blessed in meditating upon our Saviour. And so we read on, He tells us this, Let
thy words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable
in thy sight, O Lord. my strength and my redeemer there
is his confidence not in himself he realizes his own weakness
his own foolishness his own sinfulness but he comes relying upon the
strength of his God you know Moses said so many years ago
when he addressed Israel just shortly before he was to be taken
from this earth he tells us The Lord is my strength and my soul. What a good word that was. How
true it was in the case of Moses. And of course, we know that Moses
wasn't faultless. Moses was a man who was left
sometimes to himself. We're thankful that here he was
able to tell Israel, tell them from his heart and record it
in such glorious words, the Lord is my strength and song and he
is become my salvation well tonight as we think upon these words
is the Lord our strength and in the margin we read he is my
rock my rock of course we know the inference in the Word of
God to that is The rock reminds us of none other than the Lord
Jesus Christ. And in the previous psalm, the
18th psalm, the 31st verse, we read for who is God, say the
Lord, or who is a rock, save our God. How firm a foundation,
ye saints of the Lord, is laid for your faith in his excellent
word. The rock the Lord Jesus Christ
it's not moved, he's not moved the Lord Jesus Christ is the
same yesterday and today and forever he is that high tower
where until we may continually resort desiring therefore that
our heart might meditate upon those things which are acceptable
in his sight and desire that we might receive that greater
strength to hold on our way. We live in a world of many temptations. We live in a world where Satan
is very alive and very alert to try and trip us up, to try
and turn us out of the way, to try and capture us, to try and
possess us. But this word should be an encouragement
Because the Lord is our strength, my strength. And if you see,
we are going in the strength of the Lord God. And again, we
read in that 66th Psalm, those words, the previous one to the
ones that we just mentioned. He says, I will go in the strength
of the Lord God. I will mention of His righteousness,
even of His only. it's not quite the words we read
together but we did read this come and hear all ye that fear
God and I would declare what he has done for my soul the declaration
of how the gracious God has heard prayer and strengthened us in
our inner man strengthened our soul given us grace to resist
the devil that he may flee from us giving us grace to turn to
him in our time of need. See what a strong tower, what
a strength is our God. How can we fail to realise there
is all the strength that you and I can ever need to be found
in the Lord Jesus Christ. He is indeed our strength. He was the strength of David. He is the strength of the whole
Church of God. And may we find him to be our
strength. Oh, Lord, my strength. And then
he goes on and says, and my redeemer. And that's very wonderful, isn't
it? Very blessed, isn't it? To have that as a final word
in this psalm. Yes, he is the Lord. He is my redeemer. And therefore, although obviously
he's very conscious of his failings, very conscious of the words very
conscious of the meditation of his heart which no doubt has
not been acceptable always with his God and yet he's able to
come and confirm this God is my strength and my redeem what
does it mean? it means the Lord Jesus Christ
has overcome on our behalf and paid the great price for all
our sins, as He died upon that cross at Calvary, as He shed
His most precious blood in order to atone for our sins. You see, when we fail, as we
will, as we do, to realise we have a Redeemer, one who does
forgive, one who blots out our sins as a thick cloud and remembers
them no more. It's very wonderful, isn't it? It's very gracious of such a
God. We don't deserve it. What is
it? Sovereign grace or sin abounding. That's what it is. The love of
Christ. That's what it is. As our great
and glorious Redeemer, who has redeemed us from all our sins. every sin yes there's nothing
outstanding and the the Prophet Isaiah tells us in the 44th chapter
of Isaiah and the 22nd verse he says I blotted out as a thick
cloud thy transgressions and as a cloud thy sins return unto
me for I have redeemed thee. It's just worth reading the next
verse because with such a wonderful appearing of God he's able to
say, sing O ye heavens for the Lord has done it. It's only the
Lord that can